258 The Hiftory of ANIMALS. 
jaws are very thick fet with fmall teeth ; there are alfo in the palate three little fpaces, 
which are covered in the fame manner with teeth : the middle one is fmall, and is of 
a triangular figure ; the two others are oblong: in the fauces there are four bones, 
which are, in the fame manner, rough with numerous teeth: the two upper ones are 
larger; the under ones fmaller, and thefe unite or grow into one as it were : the tongue 
is fmooth, and is fomewhat loofe in the under part: the noftrils are very large, patulous, 
and nearer the eyes than the extremity of the roftrum ; they have each a double 
aperture, and are placed at a great diftance from one another; the anterior aperture 
has a little valve to cover it: there are on each fide of the head, between the eyes and 
the roflrum, four duds, the bufinefs of which feems to be the fecreting a mucous flu¬ 
id : the eyes are large j the iris is of a deep yellow, or of a yellow with an admixture 
of black : the pupil is oval and greenifh; the coverings of the gills are formed of four 
lamina, of a bony texture, and feven broad and crooked fpines conjoined by a mem¬ 
brane : the upper lamina is ferrated all the way round it’s edge, and the under one is ter¬ 
minated by a bony apophyfis; there are fome very fmall fcales on thefe lamina, but they 
do not appear, unlefs on a clofe examination : the clavicles confift each of four 
bones j they adhere to the body juft above the pedoral fins, and the firft and third of 
thefe are flighdy ferrated round the edges j the others are fmooth: the bread: of this 
fifih is not naked, as the generality of writers on thefe fubjedts have aflerted, but is co¬ 
vered with very fmall fcales : the lateral line is crooked; it runs near the back, and is 
bent toward it, and runs all the way much above the line, formed by the interftices of 
the mufcles; this is ftraight, and eafily vifible j it runs at about an equal diftance from 
the back and the belly, along the middle of the fi£h : there are on the fldes fix tranf- 
verfe lines or zones; thefe are all black, and that which is neareft the tail is leaft 
of all. 
The fcales of the Pearch are very hard; they are moderately large; they adhere 
firmly to the fkin : thofe on the belly are white; thofe on the lower part of the 
lides of a pale yellowifh, and thofe toward the back are darker; they are fome¬ 
what femicircular in figure, and they are armed at the edges with little uncinulae turn¬ 
ing backwards, whence it is that the fifh feems fo rough, on drawing the hand over it: 
there are two fins on the back; the former has fourteen, fometimes, though rarely, 
fifteen, rays; thefe are all of them prickly, and the laft or hindermoft ray is much the 
fmalleft : the membrane of this fin is of a dufky bluifh-brown, but toward the end 
there is a large black fpot: the hinder back fin has fixteen rays; the firft of thefe is 
very fmall, and is aculeated; the others are longer, and are fomewhat ramofe at their 
extremities: the pedoral fins ftand not on the belly but on the fides; they are of a 
greyifh-brown colour, and have each fourteen rays; the two firft and the three laft of 
thefe are fmall and undivided ; the intermediate ones are longer, and ramofe at the 
extremities; thefe are connected together by a very weak membrane: the belly fins 
are of a bright and elegant red ; they have each fix rays; the firft of thefe is Ample 
and aculeated, but all the others are ramofe; they are all of them robuft at their ori¬ 
gin, and the hinder one is conne&ed by a membrane to the belly, fo that the fins can¬ 
not be elevated into a perpendicular direction: the pinna ani is alfo of a ftrong red, 
and has twelve rays, fometimes only eleven ; the two firft of thefe are prickly ; the reft 
are ramofe; the hinder ones are very fmall, and the third and fourth are the longeft: 
the tail is fomewhat forked, and is reddifh at the end and along the fides; there are 
feventeen long rays in it: the ovary in the female Pearch is long, Ample, and undi¬ 
vided, and of a cylindric figure, filling up almoft the. whole cavity of the abdomen : 
the vefica feminalis in the male is double, or is compofed of two portions conjoined at 
the bottom : the liver is of a pale red, and is divided into two lobes; the left is the 
larger, and the gall-bladder is fituated in the middle between them, and hangs low 
down: the peritonaeum is of a filvery white: the ftomach is very large, and is very 
diftindt from the inteftines, and below the pylorus it has three large vermiform appen¬ 
dages : the inteftine makes but one volution, and is ufually found deeply covered with 
fat: the fpleen is oblong and red; the air-bladder is oblong and Ample; it is large, 
and is continued along the whole upper part of the cavity of the abdomen : the ribs are 
on each fide nineteen; thefe feparate very eafily from the vertebrae; the vertebrae are 
forty-one. 
This fpecies is frequent in all our rivers and frefh waters; it is very voracious, and 
will feize upon roach and other fifh of a confiderable fize: in our rivers, the 
Pearch ufually grows to about eight inches, but in fome places it greatly exceeds that 
1 fize. 
