FISHES OF NEW YORK 49S 



into its mouth and will lie on the bottom for days so gorged 



that it can not stir. In voracity it is only equaled, but hardly 



excelled by the pike. This bass bears captivity well. (After 



Eugene Smith^) 



The young above referred to as coming from Caledonia N, Y. 



hibernated and took scarcely any food during the winter, but 



fed ravenously in spring, summer, and fall. They proved very 



hardy in captivity. 



Family f-ercidae^ 



Perches 

 Genus stizostedidiv Raflnesque 

 Body elongate, fusiform, the back broad; head subconical^ 

 long; cheeks, opercles, and top of head more or less scaly; 

 mouth large, the jaws about equal; premaxillaries protractile, 

 little movable; teeth in villiform bands, the jaws and palatines 

 with long, sharp canines; gill rakers slender, strong; gill mem- 

 branes separate; preopercle serrated, the serrae below turned 

 forward; opercle with one or more spines, terminations of 

 radiating striae; dorsal fins well separated, the first with 12 to 

 15 spines, the second with 17 to 21 soft rays, last dorsal spine 

 not erectile, bound down by membranes; anal spines two, slen- 

 der, closely appressed to the soft rays, which are rather long, 

 11 to 14 in number; ventral fins well separated, the space 

 between them equal to their base, ventral spine slender, closely 

 appressed to the soft rays; scales small, strongly ctenoid ;^ 

 lateral line continuous; branchiostegals seven; pseudobranchiae 

 well developed; pyloric caeca three to seven. Two species, 

 differing considerably from each other. Large carnivorous 

 fishes of the fresh waters of North America. 



Subgenus stizostedion 



243 Stizostedion vitreum (Mitchill) 



Pike Perch; Pike; WaU-eyed Pike 



Perca vitrea Mitchill, Am. Month. Mag. II, 247, Feb. 1818, Cayuga Lake, 



N. Y. 

 Lucioperca americana Cuviee & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. II. 122, 



1828, New York; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 17, pi. 50, fig. 163, 1842; 



GuNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, 74, 1859. 



'Linn. Soc. N. Y. Proc. 1897. no. 9, p. 36. 



