414 NATURAL HISTORY. 



fish, rarely exceeding fourteen inches in length. The colours 

 of its body when living are very beautiful, the upper part being 

 bright red, and the under parts silvery white. 



There are nine species of Gurnard known to frequent the 

 coasts of England, some, as .the Sapphirine and the Mailed 

 Gurnards, being most extraordinary in form. 



The Flying Gurnard is common in the Indian seas. Its 

 pectoral fins are so much enlarged, that when it springs out of 

 the water, when pursued by the dolphin or bonito, the wide 

 quivering fins are able to sustain it in the air for a limited 

 period. 



This fish has often been confounded by voyagers with the 

 true Flying-fish (Exocastus), which belongs to an entirely dif- 

 ferent order. 



Sub-order II. HOLODACTYLI. (Gr. "CMof, entire, du/crv3.of, a finger.) 

 Family IV. . . Percidae. (Gr. HepKrj, a Perch.) 



Fruviatflis (Lat. of the river), the Perch. 



The COMMON PERCH is well known to anglers both as a 

 " bold biting fish," and as a fish that does not yield up its life 

 without endangering the person of its captor ; for the formida- 

 ble row of spinous rays belonging to the first dorsal fin have 

 wounded the hands of many an incautious angler. 



It is extremely voracious, so much so that after all the 



