428 AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



dusky yellow at base, a black blotch on posterior part of the 

 fin; lower jaw, etc., translucent reddish. The coloration va- 

 ries much with circumstances, individuals living in weedy 

 streams being much darker and more spotted than the average 

 lake specimens are. Length of adult 8 to 12 inches. 



The yellow Perch is a fish which has been on good terms with 

 the angler ever since the first angle-worm was wet in American 

 waters. He is generally ready to bite, always ready to be 

 hooked when he has bitten, and may always be counted in as 

 a notable part of the day's result when he is in the basket. 



The Yellow Perch is found throughout the Great Lake 

 Region, and in some parts of the Upper Mississippi. Its 

 range extends thence eastward, including all the rivers of 

 New England except the very coldest. Thence it extends 

 southward in the lowland streams as far as Georgia. Why 

 Perch should be found in the rivers of the Carolinas, and not 

 at all in the streams of Kentucky, Missouri and Southern 

 Illinois, is one of the things which are hard to explain. Nor 

 is this fact made any simpler when we remember that one 

 other fish, and only one, the old-fashioned "Sunny," {Lepomis 

 fibbosus) shares this peculiar range with him. 



The American Perch is a handsome fish in color. His 

 back is green, his belly, and across his sides are four or five 

 broad black bands. There is a big black spot on the spinous 

 dorsal fin, while the lower fins are bright orange or even 

 cherry red. From the black stripes the fish has received the 

 names of Ringed Perch and Raccoon Perch. The name 

 Yellow Perch is more commonly heard, and this appropriate 

 title was long ago put into Latin by Professor Mitchill to 

 form his scientific name, Perca flavcsccns, the Yellow Perch. 



Perca fluviatilis, the River Perch, is almost the duplicate 

 of our species, and it is as common in the waters of Europe 

 as is ours in the rivers of the Eastern States. The Ameri- 

 can species, flavescens, is the handsomer fish, however, with 

 his coat of cloud and sunshine, while the duller olive and 

 gray of the European fish suits the hazy sky of an English 

 summer. 



