OR, THE HOME-CULTURE OF FRESH- WATER PLANTS. 



and revive when put in again without appearing to 

 have sustained much injury. In Catholic countries, 

 indeed, where fresh fish is much more prized than 

 with us, fine Perch are often brought to market and 

 exposed for some hours on open stalls, upon a little 

 damp moss, and if not sold, taken back, and put 

 into the pond again. The Perch frequently attains 

 four pounds in weight, or even more. Donovan, 

 in his " History of British Eishes," says they have 

 been taken from Bala Lake weighing five pounds ; 

 and it is stated by Yarrell, that a gentleman residing 

 near Dudley took one six pounds in weight from 

 the Birmingham Canal. Colonel Montague re- 

 cords the capture of a Perch of still greater size, 

 stating that one was taken in the Avon, in Wilt- 

 shire, with a night-line baited for a Pike, which 

 weighed eight pounds ; dimensions which Pennant's 

 famous specimen considerably exceeded, the one he 

 records as taken in the Serpentine, weighing nine 

 pounds ! This must have been a magnificent fish ; 

 but it is stated by Block that a head of a Perch is pre- 

 served in the Church at Luehlah, in Lapland, mea- 

 suring near twelve inches from the nose to the gill 

 cover. This, however, must doubtless be the head 

 of some allied species, and not our common Perch ; 

 probably the last of some now extinct species. 



