THE RIVER PERCH. 
228 
the greater number being far inferior even to that mag- 
ni tude. The body is deep and oval fhaped ; the feales 
rough ; the back much arched ; the fide line nearer it 
than tlie belly. A minute description of a fifii fo common 
would be unnecefl'ary. 
The Bajfc 
1 HIS fith is diftinguifhed by an uncommon degree of 
voracity, and hence was termed a wolf (lupus) by Ovidf, 
a name generally adopted by fucceeding writers. In the 
fait water pools of Italy, it fometimes attains to a prodi- 
gious fize, and weighs fifteen pounds ; the flelli is ex- 
tremely grateful to the tafte:}; : In the lakes they are fre- 
quently found by the fifhermen frozen to death, as they 
fuppole, but more probably fufFocated by the exclufion of 
the air from the furface of the w r ater; a circumftance 
from which Willoughby takes occafion to caution thofe 
who keep them in ponds to break the ice frequently du- 
ring the continuance of froft §. This fpccies inhabits in- 
difcriminately lakes, 1 ivers, and the fea ; to the former, 
* however, they probably afeend from the fea, for they do 
not feem to breed in frefh water. 
Upon the back there are two fins, both radiated with 
fpincs . behind the anus another rifes and proceeds to- 
wards the tail, flrengthened with fourteen rays; the .three 
firfl fpinous : The peftoral and ventral fins have each a 
mixture of prickly and cartilaginous rays. The feales 
of 
* Lupus, Rondel. Perea Latrax, Lin. Syft. 
■\ Halieut. p. m. } Rondclct. p. 36S. 
S Ichthyol.i p. 271. 
