THE PERCH. 227 



the mofl common inhabitant of ouv fiOa ponds, r.nd af- 

 fords a very wholefome and palatable food. 



"fhe River Perch *. 



X HE ancients were acquainted with this fpecies ; ami 

 among them it was deemed one of the firfl delicacies oi" 

 the table. 



Nee te, delicias menfarum perca, filebo 



Amnigenos inter pifces dignande marini^. ausonr'S, 



Rondeletius, and after him Gcfner, blames the phyfi- 

 clans in his time for ordering the river perch to their 

 patients in febrile diforders, after a prefcription of Galen, 

 who meant the fea perch, a filli mugh lighter, as he al- 

 leges, and eafier of digeftion f. Experience, however, 

 has Ihewn that this diftinftion is made without a differ- 

 ence ; both the fea and river kind being found equally- 

 palatable and falubrious. In the tim.e of Willonghhy this 

 prejudice againft the river perch had been forgotten : He 

 approves of the tafte of Aufonius,^ in deeming the flefli of 

 this anin;al a great delicacy. 



The river perch is eafily caught with common earth 

 worms, or fmall frogs, for a bait ; and is fo voracious, 

 that the angler, who falls in with a fhoal of ihcm, will 

 fometimes kill the whole. This fpecies feldom grows to 

 a large lize, few being found above live or fix pounds, 



F f 2 the 



* Perca Fluvlatili?, Rond. Une pcrcic de Riviere, Bcloin 

 f V de Rond. ajmd Will, p, 29 z. 



