34 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



Of the percidce family only two are known in British fresh water ; 

 one is the subject of the present chapter, and the other, the ruffe or pope 

 (Acernia vulgaris). The percidce are, however, distributed over nearly 

 the whole of Europe, as well as the British Isles. The Ehine and the 

 Danube stand pre-eminent amongst Continental rivers for this fish, and 

 Lapland produces it plentifully. The salt water, Dr. Badham notes, 

 contains more interesting specimens of the same family, and some of 

 them in their voracity are even terrible the sea wolf, for instance ; 

 others are terrible only in name for example, the "sky gazer" of the 

 Mediterranean, who rejoices in the scientific cognomination Uranoscoods 

 hemeroccetus. The Nile also is possessed of a variety of perch which 

 on account of its recalcitrant appearance and fierceness of disposition 

 the alligator even refuses to do honour to by swallowing. The courage 

 of all the percidce is acknowledged. The old writer before referred to 

 (whose name I do not know and cannot find out) asserts that our perch 

 has more bravery than the pike, and Mr. Pennell justifies this in an 

 example where a perch vanquished and killed a pike of its own weight 

 with no special difficulty. His valour is also shown when he fights for a 

 dearer stake his life. Says another author : " The perch is a handsome, 

 noble-looking fish, a bold, dashing biter, and a courageous fellow when 

 hooked, never yielding as long as he has any strength remaining, but 

 fighting bravely to the last. ... In short, he is altogether, when large, 

 one of the best fish for sport which the fresh water contains." The 

 size to which the perch attains is variously stated. In England the limit 

 is probably 61b. I confess I never saw one over 41b., but Blakey 

 speaks of some of 61b., taken from Whittlesea Mere, and " Ephemera" 

 says one was caught in the Serpentine which weighed 91b. One, which is 

 said to have measured 2ft. in length, is mentioned by Izaak Walton as 

 having been caught by a friend. Shaffer says that in the church of 

 Lulea, Lapland, the head of one is preserved which is nearly a foot 

 long, which, according to the ordinary proportions of perch, would belong 

 to fish of 3ft., if not more. Perhaps this relic, however, has been, like 

 the vertebra of the famous Manheim pike, somewhat enlarged by artificial 

 means. Deformed perch are not unknown. Sir John Eichardson gives an 

 interesting account of a specimen with distorted tail and very hunch, 

 back, found at Fahlun, in Sweden, and I am informed that perch with 

 congenital deformity are constantly taken from some lakes in Merioneth- 

 shire. I have myself taken a perch which presented a very singular 

 appearance about the dorsal extremity, having a complete inversion of 

 the tail, with an eccentric twist added. My opinion at the time was that 

 the injury probably originated in the egg, as I have noticed is occasion- 

 ally the case with trout and salmon. 



