YELLOW PEECH IN THE GEEAT LAKES. 417 



so at Erie, Pennsylvania, where it is considered as of great importance. Off Erie Bay a very 

 large grade of this fish occurs. Many are taken in gill-nets. At Oswego, Port Ontario, Lake Vin- 

 cent, Ohaumont, and Sacket's Harbor, and other points on the southern and eastern shores of 

 Lake Ontario, Yellow Perch are very abundant. At Port Ontario they are of some commercial 

 importance and are more highly prized as a food-fish than is usual, as is also the case at Lake 

 Vincent, where they are more highly prized than the sun-fish. Prom Ohaumont they are shipped 

 in spring and winter as "Perch." At Lake Vincent they are known as "Striped Perch." At 

 Sacket's Harbor they are of no special importance. 



Mr. Eveland says he has frequently caught Yellow Perch weighing two pounds. They are 

 seldom found in water deeper than from twenty-five to thirty feet. It is a prevalent belief among 

 fishermen that Yellow Perch are very destructive of white-fish. Mr. Hatch thinks that the 

 decrease of the latter may be to some extent due to increase of the former. Perch caught in the 

 Lakes are much larger than those caught in the rivers running into them. 



140. THE LOG PERCH— PERCINA CAPRODES (RAF.) GRD. 



By David S. Jordan. 



This species is known as the "Eock-flsh," "Hog-fish," or "Log Perch." It is the largest of a 

 large group of little perch-like fishes known as "Darters" or Etheostomatidce. These fishes may 

 be described as little perch, reduced in size and compacted, thus fitted for a life in rocky brooks 

 where the water is too shallow, swift, and sterile to support larger fish. All the Darters are 

 brilliantly colored, and all have a way of lying quiescent on the bottoms, resting on their large fins, 

 and then suddenly darting away for a short distance when disturbed. They are carnivorous, 

 feeding chiefly on insects and crustaceans. Only one of them (Fercina caprodes) is largo enough 

 to take the hook. This one is often found on the urchin's string, but it cannot be said to have 

 any economic value. The others are too small for the urchin even, and although, according to 

 Eafinesque, "they are good to eat fried," few people think it worth while to cook them. Darters 

 are found in all fresh waters of the United States east of the Eocky Mountains, but all the species 

 are peculiar to America. 



141. THE PIKE PERCHES. 



In the interior of Korth America occur two species of the genus Stizostedium, the Wall-eyed 

 Pike, 8. vitreum (Mitch.), J. & G., and 8. canadense (Smith) Jordan. Both of these occur in the 

 Great Lake region and the Upper Mississippi, and the valley of the Ohio and the Tennessee; the 

 former penetrating northward to the fur countries, and into some of the Atlantic streams south of 

 New England. 



"/S. vitreum,^' according to Jordan, "may be readily known from 8. canadense bj'^ the presence 

 of a single black spot on the posterior part of the spinous dorsal, instead of one or two rows of 

 smaller spots on the middle part of the fin." 



The Wall-eted Pike or Dory — Stizostedium vitreum. 



"Stimostedium vitreum," writes Jordan, "is most commonly called the 'Wall-eyed Pike.' In 

 the Upper Lakes, where the true Pike (Esox Indus) is known as 'Pickerel,' the Wall-eyed Pike 

 becomes simply 'Pike.' The names 'Glass-eye' and 'Yellow Pike' are sometimes heard, and 

 the name 'Blue Pike' is applied to a local variety. The name 'Pike Perch,' a translation of 

 Iiucioperca, a name given by Cuvier to the genus Stisostedium, is often used in books, but has 

 never taken root among fishermen. Among the French about Lake Michigan and in Canada 

 27 P 



