FISH OF ONTARIO. 77 



teeth on the intermaxillaries and mandible. Tongue short, not free at tip. 

 Six branchiostegals. Lateral line continuous. The first dorsal over middle 

 of body. Adipose fin small ; caudal long, forked ; pectorals narrow, placed 

 high. The stomach is siphonal, with numerous pyloric caeca. The eggs 

 are moderately large and are excluded through an oviduct. Air bladder 

 present. Lower jaw included. 



D. , ii ; A., 8. Scales on lateral line, 47 to 50. 



Colour, upper parts pale olivaceous or brown, marked with rounded 

 dark spots, made up of minute dots ; a silvery median stripe, becoming 

 obsolete in front ; peritoneum silvery. Attains a length of about eight 

 inches. 



I have not found this fish common anywhere in Ontario, though it 

 ranges all through the Great Lakes and their tributaries north to Hudson 

 Bay. It is perhaps more abundant in the Moira River, near Belleville, 

 than elsewhere in our Province, and is said to be frequently taken in the 

 clear cold waters of Lake Superior. 



It is too small to be of much value to anglers, though it takes bait 

 readily and is used for food by those who care for such small game. To 

 the naturalist it is interesting, combining as it does the characteristics of 

 the Salmon and some of the Perches. 



It spawns in the spring, running up the streams for that purpose. 



Suborder XENARCHI. (The Pirate Perches.) 



Structure of mouth and skeleton, so far as known, essentially that of 

 the Percoid fishes. Dorsal fin single, with a few small spines ; ventrals 

 thoracic, with a small spine, and more than five soft rays. Air bladder 

 large and adherent. Intestinal canal ending at the throat in the adult, the 

 vent variously posterior in the young. Vertebrae, twenty-nine. 



FAMILY APHREDODERID^. (PIRATE PERCHES.) 



Body oblong, elevated at the base of the dorsal, compressed behind ; 

 the head thick and depressed ; the profile concave. Caudal peduncle thick ; 

 mouth moderate, somewhat oblique, the lower jaw projecting ; maxillary 

 reaching to anterior border of the eye. Teeth in villiform bands on jaws, 

 vomer, palatines and pterygoids. Premaxillaries not protractile ; maxil- 

 laries small, without evident supplemental bone. Preopercle and pre- 

 orbital with their free edges sharply serrate ; opercle with a spine. Bones 

 of skull somewhat cavernous. Sides of the head scaly. Lower pharyn- 

 geals narrow, separate, with villiform teeth. Gill membranes slightly 



