2 
AMEJUCAJV FISHES. 
of the Mississippi valley, especially in the tributaries of the Mississippi in 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and of the Ohio, in Indiana and Ohio. It does 
not occur in the lower Mississippi basin, nor on the western slope of the 
Alleghanies. 
There is no representative of the genus in the tributaries of the Pacific, 
either American or Asiatic, but the allied Percichthys replaces it in tem¬ 
perate South America (Patagonia, Peru and Chili), while in northern 
China Siniperca fills its stead. The Stone-perch, Pope, Ruffe, Kaul- 
barsch or Gremille, of Europe, Acerina cernua , which somewhat resembles 
the Perch, though more nearly related to the Pike-perches is, perhaps 
fortunately, not found in America. 
Authorities are not harmonious in opinion as to the specific identity 
of the American and the European Perch. Gunther, Steindachner and 
Day maintain that they are the same, while Jordan is equally positive that 
the Perea americana or P. flavescens of American writers is at least a dis¬ 
tinct sub-species. It is my own impression that the American Perch can¬ 
not be positively separated from that of Europe, which, as Day has shown, 
is extensively variable in form and color. 
Perch frequent quiet waters of moderate depth, pools under hollow banks, 
■eddies and expansive shady reaches in the meadow brooks, creeks and 
canals, preferring the sides of the stream to swift currents, and sandy and 
pebbly rather than muddy bottoms. In mill-ponds they are likely to be 
found in the deep water just above the dam, and in the vicinity of piles 
of locks, bridges and sluice gates. They sometimes descend into the 
brackish water of estuaries, where they become large and very firm 
fleshed. In muddy pools they often assume a golden color, but in such 
situations are soft and rarely well flavored. 
“As a still-water pond fish,” writes Abbott, “ if there is a fair supply 
of spring-water, they thrive excellently; but the largest specimens come 
either from the river or from the in-flowing creeks. Deep water of the 
temperature of ordinary spring-water, with some current, and the bed of a 
stream, at least partially covered with vegetation, best suits this fish.” 
They are gregarious, and there is an Old-country saying that when the 
angler meets a school of Perch he may capture every one 
and noiseless. 
“ Perch, like the Tartar clans, in troops remove, 
And urged by famine or by pleasure rove ; 
But if one prisoner, as in war, you seize, 
if he be wary 
DS( 
