FISH. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Family— PERCID.E. 



Perca l^-vis. Jen. 



Plate I. 



P. nigricanti-fusco undique punctata ; vertice, fronte, rostro usque ad nares, et infra- 

 orbit alium parte posteriori, squamatis ; squamis, in capite ciliatis scabris, in corpore 

 sublcEvibus. 



B. 7; D. 9—1/11; A. 3/9; C. 17; P. 15; V. 1/5. 

 Long, una 11 ; lin. 5. 



Form. — Much more elongated than the common Perch, with the back less elevated. Depth, 

 beneath the commencement of the first dorsal, not quite equalling one-fifth of the entire length. 

 Thickness, in the region of the pectorals, about two-thirds of the depth. Head not quite 

 one-fourth of the entire length. Profile falling gently from the nape in nearly a straight line 

 at an angle of about 45° : at the nape the dorsal line rises so as to interrupt its continuity 

 with the slope of the profile, but it is nearly horizontal along the base of the dorsal fins. The 

 jaws are nearly equal, but when the mouth is closed, the upper one appears somewhat the 

 longer. A band of velutine teeth in each jaw, as well as on the vomer and palatines. Maxil- 

 laries when at rest nearly concealed beneath the suborbital bones : these last with their lower 

 margin distinctly denticulated ; their surface presenting several small hollows. Eyes rather 

 above the middle of the cheeks, and about equi-distant from the extremity of the snout and the 

 posterior margin of the preopercle ; their diameter is one-sixth of the length of the head ; the dis- 

 tance from one to the other equals one diameter and a half. Nostrils double, a little in advance of 

 the eyes ; the first orifice oval, the second round. Preopercle rectangular, with the angle rounded ; 



B 



