THE PE&CH. 



A singular deformed variety. 



felt the hook, all is over; this fish becomes so 

 restless as soon to occasion the whole shoal to 

 leave the place. 



In winter the perch is exceedingly abstemious, 

 and during that season scarcely ever bites, ex- 

 cept in the middle of a warm, sun-shiny day* 

 In clear weather in the spring, sometimes a 

 dozen or more of these fish may be observed in, 

 a deep hole, sheltered by trees and bushes. The 

 angler may then observe them striving which 

 shall first seize his bait, till the whole shoal are 

 caught. 



In a lake called Llyn Raithlyn, in Merioneth- 

 shire, there is a singular variety of the perch, the 

 back of which is hunched, and the lower part of 

 the back-bone next the tail is strangely distorted. 

 It is remarked by the Hon. Daines Barrington, 

 (according to some specimens which he had re- 

 ceived,) that they were not only crooked near 

 the tail, but for about one third of the whole 

 length of their body ; and had likewise a very 

 remarkable protuberance on each side, which he 

 had opened with a knife, but it did not materially 

 differ from other parts of the flesh, and when 

 dressed, there was nothing in the taste to distin- 

 guish them from the common kind, which are 

 as numerous in this pool as the deformed fish. 

 Some of the crooked perch have likewise been 

 found in the small Alpine lakes of Sweden. 



VOL. v. NO. 35. 2 T 



