453 
Apart from a peculiar little group of fishes known as darters (theostomatine), 
the Percip& proper include only the commcn yellow perch (Perca americana), 
and the Sandres, pike-perches or pickerels referred to above—two species forming 
the genus Stizostedium. The darters have been little studied in Ontario; they 
may be described as dwarf perches which have taken to live in small and rapid 
streams, and have acquired in accordance with their surroundings, the very char- 
acteristic bright colouring, powerful fins, and rapid movements of the group. The 
largest is Ltheostoma (Percin) caprodes, the log-perch, which may measure six 
inches or more, but the sand-darter, Z. (Anvmocrypta) pellucida, and other species 
which occur in the Province, are rarely more than two or three inches in length. 
Information with regard to these minute forms would be of scientific interest. 
The yellow perch is a familiar fish, very similar in its habits to the European 
perch. It is common in the shallow waters of the lakes, and finds its way in con- 
siderable quantities into the market. It is of fair quality and occasionally weighs 
as much as 14 lb., but is not regarded as a valuable food-fish like the following. 
Two species of Sandres or pike-perches (so-called as they are carnivorous perch- 
like fish, attaining the size of a pike) occur in North America, and are abundant 
in the waters of the Province. They receive widely different names in different 
localities. The more valuable food-fish of the two, which attains a length of 
three feet, and a weight of 10 to 20 lb., is Stizostedium vitreum, and is commonly 
known in the Province as the pickerel, (a name which should be reserved for the 
lesser American pike, p. 451), or among the French as the Doré, from its prevail- 
ing yellow colouration. It might be preferable to introduce for it the name 
which Richardson employs in his Fauna Boreali Americana, the “Sandre,’ a name 
which is also used for the European representatives of this group. 
The genus differs from Perea chiefly in the shape of the body, which is elong- 
ated instead of oblong, and in there being strong canine teeth on the jaws and pal- 
atines. The second species, S. canadense, known as the “ Sauger” in Lake Erie, is 
much smaller, rarely exceeding fifteen inches in length, and has a rounder body. 
It has four to seven instead of three pyloric cceca and a distinctive black blotch 
at the base of the pectorals, while the larger species has a similar blotch on the 
hinder part of the spinous dorsal fin. The Sauger also has a rougher head, 
smaller scales, and a greater number of spines on the gill-cover. 
The Pickerel or Sandre is undoubtedly one of the most valuable food-fish we 
possess, and is only inferior economically to the Lake Trout on account of its 
inferior numbers. It shares the habit of the other large lacustrine species in 
retreating to the deep water in the heat of summer. It is, therefore, taken then 
only in gill-nets ; but, when in shallow water, as for example in the spring when 
‘it spawns, it not infrequently is taken in considerable numbers from the pounds. 
In winter many are speared through the ice with the aid of a decoy fish. 
Further information is desirable with regard to the distribution in the 
Province of the two species, as to their spawning habits, and as to the increase 
or decrease in their numbers. The impression prevails in the lower lakes that the 
Pickerel have increased of recent years, and this is attributed, in Lake Ontario, 
to the introduction of alewives into the lake. 
To the family CENTRARCHID# belong the various species of Bass and Sun- 
fish—species which, with the exception of the Black Bass, do not attain to any size, 
but which are all regarded as excellent food-fish, From an economical point of 
