REPRINT OF ORIGINAL TEXT 65 



Fishes of the Ohio 



FIRST PART. THORACIC FISHES. 



Having complete gills, with a gill cover, and a 

 branchial membrane. Lower or ventral fins situated 

 on the breast or thorax, under the pectoral or lateral 

 fins. 



I Genus. Perch. Perca. Perche. 



Body elliptical, scaly ; head without scales, mouth 

 large, jaws with unequal acute teeth, gill cover with 

 a serrate preopercule [I. 369] [<?/] and a spiny oper- 

 cule ; two dorsal fins, the first with spiny rays, the 

 second with soft rays. Vent posterior. 



This genus was very badly defined by Linneus, 

 Shaw, Bloch, and Mitchell ; the above characters are 

 now precise and apply to all the species that ought 

 to remain in it, answering to the genus of Lacepede 

 and the subgenus of Cuvier, bearing the same name. 

 All the species belonging to it are voracious and prey 

 on smaller fishes. There are only few species in the 

 Ohio, which afford an excellent food. 



1st Species. Salmon Perch. Perca Salmonea. 

 Perche Saumonee. 



Jaws nearly equal, one spine on the opercule and 

 another at the base of the pectoral fins : body length- 

 ened, breadth one ninth of the length, brownish 

 above, with gilt shades, white beneath: first dorsal 

 fin with fourteen rays, second with twenty, tail 



