54 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER V. 



Series I. SONY FISHES. Family PERCIDJZi. 



Order I. ACANTHOPTERYGII*. Genus PERCA J. 



THE PERCH. 



(Perca flumatilis J.) 



Characteristics common to all the Perch Family. Fin-rays partly 

 spinous and partly flexible. Body oblong, and covered with hard or 

 rough scales. Bones of the gill-covers variously armed at the edges 

 with notches or spinous points. Most of the species composing this 

 Family have the ventral fins under the pectoral. 



THE Perch has been taken by Cuvier as the type of his 

 first genus, distinguished by having two separate back- fins 

 and other minor peculiarities, and I therefore commence 

 this portion of the subject with the history of that species. 

 The other fish will follow one another in their order of 



* Fish with some fin-rays spiny, the others flexible. (See p. 36.) 



t The Family of the Perches. 



J Perca, the Perch ; Jluviatilis, of the river, Lat. 



