214 THE PERCH 



representation of a perch fisher on the Thames in 

 August, with the water lit by the sultry sun and clear 

 as crystal, and steam launches hurrying by him 

 every few minutes, would be equally emblematic. 



In British fresh waters the perch has but one 

 relative, the little ruffe or pope \Acerina vulgaris). 

 In salt water, on the other hand, he has several 

 connections, notably that most sporting sea fish, the 

 bass (Labrax lupus\ which does not come under con- 

 sideration in the present monograph. 



I have said that the perch has been misrepre- 

 sented by the older angling writers as well as by 

 ichthyologists. Though we have such a huge mass 

 of angling literature, the old worthies who made 

 pretence of teaching the young idea how to fish 

 largely copied one another ; and those who have 

 studied the old calf-bound books of yellow page and 

 rugged type will find that a blunder, once perpetrated, 

 will be blindly repeated by author after author, often 

 in the same words. Walton, and I believe I am 

 correct in saying at least one other writer before 

 him, described the perch as 'a bold-biting fish.' And 

 so he is on occasion. But in those bygone days 

 there were no fence months, perch were fished for 

 all the year round ; and the recommendation by the 

 author of the ' Compleat Angler,' and others who 



