18 PERCIDJE. 



ACAKTHOPTERYGIL PERClDsE. 



THE RUFFE, OR POPE. 



Acerina vulgaris, Cuv. et VALENC. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. iii. p. 4, pi. 41. 

 Perca cernua, LINN^US. BLOCK, pt. ii. pi. 53. 



,, ,, Ruffe, PENN. Brit. Zool. 1812, vol. iii. p. 350. 



,, ,, DON. Brit. Fish. pi. 39. 



Cernua Jiuviatilis, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 212, sp. 141. 



Generic Characters. Dorsal fin single, elongated, the rays of the first portion 

 spinous, the others flexible; branchiostegous rays 7 ; teeth very small, uniform, 

 numerous ; head without scales : suborbital bone and preoperculum indented ; 

 operculum ending in a single point. 



THE RUFFE, a fresh- water fish, closely allied to the Perch, 

 but with a single dorsal fin, appears to have been unknown 

 to the ancients, and Cuvier assigns the credit of its first 

 discovery to an Englishman whose name was Caius.* He 

 found it in the river Yare, near Norwich, and called it 

 Aspredo, a translation of our name of Ruffe (rough), which 

 is well applied to it on account of the harsh feel of its den- 

 ticulated scales. Caius sent the first figure of this fish to 

 Gesner, who published it. 



The Ruffe is common to almost all the canals and rivers 

 * The learned Dr. Caius, well known for his various zoological writings. 



