OR, THE HOME-CULTURE OF FRESH-WATER PLANTS. 
and revive wlien put in again without appearing to 
have sustained much injury. In Catholic countries, 
indeed, where fresh fish is much more prized than 
with us, fine Perch are often brought to market and 
exposed for some hours on open stalls, upon a little 
damp moss, and if not sold, taken back, and put 
into the pond again. The Perch frequently attains 
four pounds in weight, or even more. Donovan, 
in his “ History of British Pishes,” says they have 
been taken from Bala Lake weighing five pounds ; 
and it is stated by Yarrell, that a gentleman residing 
near Dudley took one six pounds in weight from 
the Birmingham Canal. Colonel Montague re¬ 
cords the capture of a Perch of still greater size, 
stating that one was taken in the Avon, in Wilt¬ 
shire, with a night-line baited for a Pike, which 
weighed eight pounds ; dimensions which Pennant’s 
. famous specimen considerably exceeded, the one he 
records as taken in the Serpentine, weighing nine 
pounds ! This must have been a magnificent fish; 
but it is stated by Block that a head of a Perch is pre¬ 
served in the Church at Luehlah, in Lapland, mea¬ 
suring near twelve inches from the nose to the gill 
cover. This, however, must doubtless be the head 
of some allied species, and not our common Perch; 
probably the last of some now extinct species. 
51 
