240 PERCID^. 



the Rough-headed Yellow Perch {Perca Granulata) ; the Sharp- 

 nosed Yellow Perch [Perca Acuta) ; the Slender Yellow Perch 

 {Perca Gracilis) ; and the White Perch {Perca Pallida). It 

 does not, however, appear that these distinctions are sufficiently 

 broad or permanent to justify this arrangement ; and it is now 

 generally held that there is but one species of true fresh-water 

 Perch in the United States, and that the forms which have 

 been designated under the above titles are mere accidental 

 varieties, similar to those which have been previously noticed of 

 the Common Trout. Originally the Yellow Perch was a northern 

 fish, its range extending to about the fiftieth parallel, but it 

 has lately, like several others of the same species, been much 

 more widely difi'used through artificial channels, as, for instance, 

 the Black Bass {Grystes Nigricans), and the Bock Bass, {Cen- 

 trarchus JEneas), which have descended from the basin of the 

 St. Lawrence, by the Erie and Whitehall canals, into the 

 waters of the Upper Hudson. 



The Yellow Perch is a bold biter, and a tolerably good fish 

 on the table ; it frequents the same waters with the Pickerel, 

 from the assaults of which it is defended by the sharp spinous 

 rays of its dorsal fin. 



In colour, its sides are yellow, varying in intensity from 

 greenish to bright golden in different waters, and occasionally 

 in tide waters to pale greenish white. Its back is banded with 

 six or eight dark vertical bars. Its pectorals, ventrals, and anal 

 are golden orange — its dorsal and caudal greenish brown. 



Its body is compressed, elongated, with a slightly gibbous 

 dorsal outline. The scales are small ; the head, above the eyes 

 and between them, smooth ; lateral line concurrent with the 



