AND OF STILL WATERS. 71 



beauty," as one writer puts it, of the rising 

 generation. 



The perch has come down to us from ancient 

 days with a long pedigree of excellence. He 

 was well known to the Greeks, and Aristotle 

 wrote much about him under the name of iripKrj. 

 In fact, his name of perch is derived from the 

 adjective Tripxos, which was used to describe the 

 dark shade of ripening olives, a colour which 

 we find reproduced in the " transverse bars " 

 that adorn Percafluviatilis. These dark bars are 

 sometimes the cause of a curious optical illusion 

 for, on looking down on a perch through clear 

 still water, he appears absolutely transparent. 

 The family of Percidce, to which the perch 

 belongs, is a very large one, distributed over all 

 parts of the world, in salt water as well as in 

 fresh. Amongst his cousins the perch can claim 

 such ornaments to fish society as the stinging 

 weever or " sea dragon," the labrax or " sea 

 wolf," after whose name " in Latin or Greek 

 gradus," says Mr. Manley, " is found such a 

 string of epithets denoting his rapacity, voracity, 

 and fierceness that they make one's very blood 



