BONY FISHES. 



335 



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 legiti- 

 mate bait has been exhausted, it is a common practice for the fish- 

 erman td place on his hook the eyes of the perch already taken, 

 which are as eagerly bitten at as the worms were formerly. An 

 anecdote is related of a gentleman who struck at a perch, but 

 anfortunately missed it, the hook tearing out the eye of the poor 

 creature. He adjusted the eye on the hook, and replaced the line 

 in the water, where it had hardly been a few minutes before the 

 float was violently jerked under the surface. The angler of course 

 struck, and found he had captured a fine perch. This, when 

 landed, was disco- 

 vered to be the very ,-/yv-A,-^. ^ 

 fish which had just 

 been mutilated, and 

 which had actually 

 lost its life by de- 

 vouring its own eye. 

 It is quaintly ob- Pereh. 

 served in Izaak Wal- 

 ton, that " if there be twenty or forty in a hole, they may be at 

 one standing all caught one after another, they being like the 

 wicked of the world, not afraid though their fellows and compan- 

 ions perish in their sight." 



The Perch seldom exceeds two pounds and a half in weight, 

 and a perch weighing a pound and a half is considered a very 

 fine fish. 



The Mackarel. — The elegant shape and resplendent colors 

 of the Mackarel point it out as one of the most beautiful fishes 

 known. Nor is it only valuable for its beauty, as it is highly 

 prized as an article of food in most parts of the world. 



When the fishermen employ the line for the capture of the 

 Mackarel, the hook is baited with a strip cut from a dead mack- 

 arel, and is suffered to trail overboard. The fish bite eagerly at 



