56 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



remain an object of interest to man, from its beauty, the 

 strangeness of its habits, the mystery of its haunts, and its 

 trackless wanderings. 



Ichthyology. — To the angler, this is the most interesting 

 of the natural sciences. It received little attention until the 

 time of Linnaeus. Afterwards Cuvier, by a more natural and 

 judicious classification, divided the Ichthyic class into Orders, 

 Families, Genera, and Species, which has been adopted in the 

 main, by all ichthyologists who have succeeded him. 



Of the four orders established by Professor Agassiz, already 

 mentioned in reference to palaeontology ; the two last, Ctenoids 

 and Cycloids only, come properly within the scope of the 

 angler's ichthyology. 



The Ctenoids are those whose scales are pectinated on the 

 edges ; these comprise all the Acanthoptherygii, which em- 

 brace the Perch family; and a few of the Malacopterygii. 

 The Cycloids have scales with a continuous margin, and 

 include most of the Malacopterygii, or at least those with 

 which the angler has to do. 



The term " Acanthopterygii" is derived from the Greek 

 words, acantha, a thorn, and pterrugion, a little feather. 

 " Malacopterygii" has its origin in the Greek word malacos, 

 soft. The wood-cut on the next page is introduced to elucidate 

 the difference between these two divisions, and to explain at 

 the same time the position of the different fins, and their 

 scientific names. 



The upper figure represents the outline of a Trout, one of 

 the Malacopterygii ; the lower, that of our White Perch, one 

 of the Acanthopterygii. The first fin on the back of either 

 figure is the Jirst dorsal; the second back fin is the second 

 dorsal; the fins just behind the gill-covers are the pectorals ; 

 the ventral fins in the Malacopterygii are about midway on 



