FAMILY, I— PERCID^. 3 



Synonymy of American exmnples.* 



Bodianus flavescens, Mitoliill, PhU. Trans. New York, i, p. 421. 



Perca flaveso&ns, Cvlv. Bjhgne Anhn. ; Cuv. and Val. ii,. p. 46; Agassiz, Lake 

 Superior, p. 291 ; Giinther, Catal. i, p. 59. 



Ferca granulata and P. serrato-granulata, Cut. and Val. ii, pp. 47, 48, pi. ix. 



Perca acuta and P. gracilis, Cuv. and Val. ii, pp. 49, 50 ; Guntker, Catal. i, 

 p. 60. 



B. vii, D. 14-15 I rV-hs, P- 14, V. 1/5, A. ^%, C. 18, L.l. 55-60, L. tr. 7-9/19; 

 Coec. Pyl. 3, Vert. 21/20-21. 



Length of head 3| to 4, of caudal fin 6| to 6|, height of body 3f to 4 in the 

 total length. Uye — diameter 4| to 6i in the length of the head, according to the 

 size of the specimen, 1 to 1^ diameters from the end of the snout, and also apart. 

 Interorbital space slightly convex. The maxilla reaches to beneath the middle of 

 the eye. Opercle with a rather strong and flattened spine, the lower edge of 

 which, also of sub- and inter-opereles and shoulder bones very finely serrated, 

 sometimes the serrations on the opercle are more or less blunted. A few 

 minute serrations sometimes present on the lower edge of preorbital. Preopercle 

 serrated along its posterior border, most strongly so at the angle, while several 

 denticulatious, pointing forward, exist along its lower edge. Teeth — villiform in 

 the jaws, on the vomer and palatine bones, but absent from the tongue. Fins — 

 dorsal spines rather strong, increasing in length to the third which slightly 

 exceeds haK that of the head, they decrease in height from the fifth to the last : 

 second dorsal fin lower than the first. Pectoral two-fifths the length of the head, 

 but not so long as the ventral. Second anal spine slightly longer than the first and 

 rather above half the length of the rays. Caudal with rounded lobes. Scales — 

 ctenoid, 15 or 16 rows between the lateral-line and base of the ventral fin : 75 

 rows descend from the back to the lateral-line. Gaecal appendages — ^three : they 

 are rather wide and of moderate extent. The length of the intestinal tract 

 equals that of the entire fish excluding the taU or caudal fin. Air-hladder — 

 destitute of any bones connecting it with the internal ear : it is large, simple, 

 having thin walls, while its superior half is closely adherent to the under surface 

 of the ribs and bodies of the vertebrae ; inferiorly it is covered by the peritoneum. 

 Colours — bright olive-green along the back becoming lighter beneath, where it is 

 often yellow or dark yellowish-white, occasionally tinged with pink. About 5 

 transverse black bands descend from the back down the sides, the first from just 

 in front of and below the two first dorsal spines : the second from the fourth to the 

 ninth : the third from the base of the last two and commencement of the soft 

 dorsal : the fourth below the middle of the soft dorsal : the fifth below its end, 

 while a sixth often exists at the base of the caudal fin. Sometimes these bands 

 arise from two roots, or are Y-shaped. First dorsal fin gray, with two black 

 spots, one anteriorly, the other over its last spines. 



In the United States and Canada we find the Bodianus flavescens, Mitchill, 

 likewise termed Ferca granulata and P. serrato-granulata, C. V. : also a variety 

 from Lake Ontario which is deficient in the spot on the dorsal fin, P. acuta, 

 Richardson : and an elongated form from Canada termed P. gracilis, C. V. These 

 fishes have been distinguished from P. fluviatilis for the following reasons : — 

 locality: also, exclusive of colour, due to the head being slightly longer, the 

 snout more pointed, the skull smoother, and the preopercular denticulatious 

 finer : the formula also being D. 13 | i^, A. f . The P. serrato-granulata, C.V. is 

 said to be thicker, skull and opercle more striated, the latter being denticulated 

 along the lower border, while the number of denticulations along the lower edge of 

 the preopercle are more numerous and finer than in the European species, D. 

 14 I _?_j A. Y-s '■ ^ls° ^^^ scales are somewhat smoother. P. granulata has the 

 vomerine teeth stronger than in the other forms, the denticulations on the 

 preopercle very fine especially along its lower edge : the surface of the parietal 

 covered with granulated and raised lines : opercle feebly striated and destitute of 



* All the references to works treating on these fishes in foreign countries cannot be included, 

 due to the amount of space such would require. 



1 * 



