PERCID^E, 



A CANTHO PTEE YGII. 



PERCIDM. 



THE BASSE. 



Lahrux lupus, Cuv. et Valenc. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. ii. p. 56, pi. 11. 

 Perca lahrux, Linneus. Bloch, pt. ix. pi. 301 . 



Basse, Pf.nn. Brit. Zool. 1812, vol. iii. p. 348, pi, 60. 

 Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 43. 

 ,, Flem. Brit. An. p. 213, sp. 143. 



Generic Characters. — Two dorsal fins, distinct, separated; the rays of the 

 first spinous, those of the second flexible ; branchiostegous rays 7 ; tongue 

 covered with small teeth ; teeth on both jaws, on the vomer and palatine bones ; 

 cheeks, preoperculum, and operculum, covered with scales ; suborbital bone and 

 suboperculum without serrations ; preoperculum notched below, serrated on its 

 posterior edge ; operculum ending in two points directed backwards. 



The Basse, a marine perch, with two dorsal fins, abundant 

 in the Mediterranean, was well known to the Greeks, who 

 called it AaS^a?, and esteemed it highly. Aristotle distin- 

 guished it from the fresh-water perch by the scales on the 

 various parts of the gill-cover, the spines of the operculum, 

 and the roughness of the tongue. It was also well known 

 to the Romans, who called it Lupus, on account of its vora- 



