PERCID^. XC. 229 



western States, Northern Ohio to Minnesota; abundant; 

 a most brilliant species. 



17. MICROPERCA, Putnam. LEAST DARTERS. 

 1. M. punctulata, Putnam. LEAST DARTER. Greenish 

 olive, sides with irregular dark bars and zigzag markings; 

 dusky lines along the rows of scales; a dark shoulder 

 blotch; a black streak forward from eye and a vertical 

 bar below it; D. VI to VII 9 to 12; A. II, 5 or 6; 

 length 1J inches. Western States. 



FAMILY XC. PERCID^E. 



(The Perches.} 



Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with 

 rather small, strongly ctenoid scales; opercular bones 

 mostly serrated; teeth in villiform bands on jaws, vomer 

 and palatines; mouth slightly oblique; dorsals two, dis- 

 tinct, both well developed; ventrals thoracic I, 5; anal 

 with one or two spines; branchiostegals seven; air bladder 

 present, moderately developed; intestinal canal with a 

 fe\v pyloric cceca. Carnivorous fishes of moderate or 

 rather large size, chiefly of the rivers of the Northern 

 Hemisphere. As here restricted, a small family of about 

 five genera and fifteen species. 

 * No canine teeth among the villiform ones ; body compressed. 



PERCA, 1. 

 ** With strong canine teeth ; body elongated. STIZOSTETHIUM, '2. 



1. PERCA, Linnasus. PERCHES. 



1. P. americana, Schranck. COMMOX YELLOW PERCH. 

 Olivaceous, sides yellowish, with broad dark bars; head 

 3J in length; depth about the same; D. XIII 14; A. 

 II, 7; lat. 1. 63. Fresh waters E. U. S., chiefly north- 

 ward and eastward, [P. flavescens (Mit.) Cuv.] 



