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gills, which are placed on each side of the forward part of the body, answer the place of lungs. Here are spread out innumerable blood-vessels, which receive the blood from the heart; and as the water which the fish takes in at the mouth is driven through the gills, the oxygen which it contains passes into the blood, and thus accomplishes the object for which all animals breathe.

6. If by any means the gill-covers, or openings, are kept closed for a short time, the fish will die for want of air to purify the blood, the same as man dies when the air is excluded from his lungs. A fish will die very quickly in the water when its mouth is kept open by a hook, for it can not then cause the water to circulate through the gills; the gillcovers then close, and the air is prevented from reaching the blood. The angler often avails himself of a knowledge of this principle to suffocate or drown a strong fish. When a fish is taken out of the water, it opens and shuts its mouth and raises the gill-covers alternately; but as the arches which support the gills collapse,5 and it can not raise them without the aid of water, the situation of the fish is similar to that of an air-breathing animal inclosed in a vacuum, and death by suffocation is the consequence.

7. The importance of fishes, as a source of national wealth, renders their geographical distribution a matter of interest and importance; and this seems to be determined by laws quite similar to those which regulate the distribution of land animals. Climate evidently exerts an important influence in regulating the distinctions of form and color between fishes of tropical and those of temperate regions: some species are found only in deep water, and others in shallows; some in fresh, and others in salt water; while, even in the sea, extensive reefs, and even great depths, so effectually divide even kindred species, that the fishes of the coast of the Atlantic States are for the most part distinct from those on the European side of the Atlantic.

8. In the classification of fishes two great divisions are made, the entire class being divided into the two great groups, the BONY and the CARTILAGINOUS. The fishes having bony skeletons are then subdivided into the two classes, the Spine-rayed and the Soft-rayed the former having some of their fins furnished with simple bony rays, like spines; and the latter having the fin rays soft and flexible. Fishes may therefore be grouped in three great classes: 1st, the Spinerayed Bony Fishes; 2d, the Soft-rayed Bony Fishes; and, 3d,

the Cartilaginous Fishes. The latter have the skeleton composed of gristle or cartilage instead of bone.*

1 PHYS-I-ŎL'-O-GY, the science which treats 3 TEM'-PER-A-TURE, degree of warmth. of the functions of the different parts or or-4 Ŏx'-Y-GEN. See p. 269; and Fourth Readgans of animals or plants. er, p. 53. 2 CHAR-AC-TER-IS'-TIES, peculiar qualities. 5 COL-LAPSE', fall together; close.

*In treating of fishes we have chiefly followed the arrangement of Cuvier, because most works on Ichthyology accessible to students adopt this system, and it is one that is easily understood. The new classification of Agassiz, however, as it better accords with the order of succession which is found to exist in the course of geologic history, will doubtless eventually be adopted in most scientific treatises, and thus some knowledge of both systems will be desirable. Agassiz arranges fishes, in accordance with the peculiar structure of the scales, in the following four orders, a system which is applicable to the fossil as well as the living forms.

1st. PLACOIDS-embracing those which, to a cartilaginous skeleton, unite a skin that is covered irregularly with enameled plates or scales, often elevated in the middle, and sometimes with a strong projecting point or spine, as the shagreen on the skin of the sharks, and the tubercles of the rays. Fossils abundant, but existing species few.

2d. GANOIDS-embracing all, whether cartilaginous or not, that are covered by a nearly continuous armor of angular scales of enameled bone, or bony plates that fit to each other as the slates on a roof. Examples-sturgeons and gar fish. In a past geological era the ganoids existed in vast numbers, but they have almost entirely disappeared from creation. 3d. CTENOIDS-fishes whose scales consist of plates having their posterior edges pectinated or comb-like, such as perches. This is a very large division of existing species. 4th. CYCLOIDS-fishes whose scales are entire, and of circular form, as in the salmon, trout, shiners. Also a very large division.

The Ctenoids and Cycloids comprise nearly nine tenths of all existing species. The earliest fossil fish, first appearing near the close of the transition period (see Geology, p. 464), were all Placoids. Next in order were the Ganoids, which first appear in the lower strata of the secondary period (see Geology, p. 466). These two latter orders comprised, for untold ages, so far as is yet known, all the fish that existed. In the latter part of the secondary period (see p. 468) the Ctenoids and Cycloids were ushered in.

1st Dorsal

[graphic]

The Common Pike-Perch, Lucioperca Americana.

In describing a fish, the size, form, and color are given-the number, character, and position of the fins-and frequently the shape and character of the scales, the character of the gills, and the number of the gill-openings.

The most important and easily recognized of these features are the fins; and in describ ing them the names are given, and the number of spines or rays in each. In the above fish-the Common Pike-Perch of the Great Lakes and Western waters (often, but improperly, called the Pike, or Pickerel)-the fins are briefly described as follows:

D. 14-1, 22; A. 1, 11; C. 17; P. 15; V. 1,5;

the letters denoting the names of the fins, and the figures the number of spines. There being, in the above fish, two divisions of the dorsal fin, it is designated as D. 14-1, 22; showing that the first dorsal has 14 rays, all spinous; in the second dorsal 1 spinous, and 22 that are soft; A. the anal fin, with 1 spinous ray, and 11 that are soft; C. the tail or caudal fin, 17 rays; P. pectoral fin, 15 soft rays; V. the ventral fin, with one spinous ray, and 5 that are soft.

FIRST-CLASS OF FISHES.

SPINE-RAYED BONY FISHES. (Acanthopterygii.)*

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THE PERCH FAMILY.-1. American Yellow Perch, Perca flavescens. 2. Striped S ́a-bass, Labrax lineatus. 3. Black Bass, or Black Perch of Lake Huron, Huro nigricans. 4. Growl er, or White Salmon of Virginia, Grystes salmoides. 5. Black Sea-bass, Centropistes nigricans. 6. Mediterranean Apogon, Apogon trimaculatus. 7. Two-banded Diploprion, Diploprion bifaciatum. 8. One-spotted Mesoprion, Mesoprion uninotatus. 9. Ruby-colored Etelis, Etelis carbunculus. 10. Armed Enoplossus, Enoplossus armatus. 11. Lettered Serranus, Serranus scriba. 12. Spined Serranus, Serranus anthias. 13. Red Surmullet, Mullus barbatus.

LESSON III. THE PERCH FAMILY.

(CTENOIDS.)

1. THE spine-rayed bony fishes comprise more than three fourths of all the various kinds that are known. From fourteen to seventeen different families, some of them embracing several hundred species each, have been included in this division. At the head of the whole stands the Perch family, the most numerous of all. Most of them are salt-water fish, but about one fifth of the whole number inhabit fresh-water streams, or occasionally ascend them from the sea.

A-CAN-THIOP-TER-Y&'-II, from two Greek words, acanthos, a thorn, and pterugion, a little wing or fin, meaning thorny or spine-rayed. The fishes of this order are distinguished by having the anterior portion of the dorsal, or of the first dorsal where there are two, supported by spinous rays consisting of single bony pieces. Spinous rays are also found in the anal, and at least one in the ventral fins.

2. Those which are usually known by the name of perch, however, are fresh-water fish, and they have been celebrated from the time of Aristotle for their beautiful forms, and the excellence of their flesh as an article of food.

Nor let the muse, in her award of fame,
Illustrious Perch, unnoticed pass thy claim;
Prince of the prickly cohort, bred in lakes
To feast our boards, what sapid1 boneless flakes
Thy solid flesh supplies! Though river-fed,

No daintier fish in ocean's pastures bred

Swims thy compeer; scarce mullet may compete

With thee for fibre firm and flavor sweet.-AUSONIUS.

3. In the Perch family are included no less than five different kinds of perch found in our waters, the pike-perch, numerous species of bass, the growler, or white salmon of Virginia, and many other species, exhibiting a great variety of form and coloring, found on the European and Asiatic coasts. Their general character, as to form and size, will best be learned from the representations given in the engraving at the head of this lesson. All the fishes of this family agree in the toothed or comb-like edges of their scales, and in having notched or spined gill-covers; but, while some have but one dorsal fin, in others there is a division, constituting two.

4. The European river perch, like our common yellow perch, is exceedingly voracious. An anecdote is related of a gentleman who, in fishing, lost a perch from his line, the hook tearing out the eye of the poor creature. He then adjusted the eye on the hook and replaced the line in the water, where it had hardly been a few minutes before the float was violently jerked under the surface. On landing the fish, he found he had captured a fine perch, which proved to be the very fish which had just been mutilated, and which had actually lost its life by devouring its own eye. It is quaintly observed by Izaak Walton, that "if there be twenty or forty in a hole, they may be at one standing all caught, one after another, they being, like the wicked of the world, not afraid, though their fellows and companions perish in their sight."

5. The incident related concerning the perch is one among many facts that might be given, showing how erroneous is the idea that "the worm on which we tread feels a pang as great as when a giant dies." On the contrary, the nervous organization of the lower orders of animals is such that they seem to suffer but little, compared with what man endures, in being maimed or killed. This is, assuredly, a most benevolent provision, greatly diminishing the amount of suffering that would otherwise be endured throughout all animated nature.

6. Of all the beautiful colored fish, several species of which belong to the Perch family, it may be remarked that they can never be seen in perfection except when newly taken from the water. Then their beauty is fresh and delicate, but it changes as soon as the fish dies; and the keeping for a day, or preservation in spirits, destroys all but the mere traces of their delicate markings.

7. Of the little spined serranus, which was well known to the ancients, and is still very abundant in the Mediterranean, very curious and remarkable stories are told; but as they are only fish stories, we can not insist that our readers shall believe them. It will be observed that the forward dorsal fin of this fish is armed with long and sharp spines, the third one of which is much the longest. From the supposed resem. blance of this spine to a razor, the French call this fish “The Barber."

8. The long spines of the serranus are considered a very formidable weapon of defense; and by the divers for marine productions the fish itself is regarded as sacred, because they declare that no other fish, however large, dare approach its retreats, and that there is always safety from the attacks of sea-monsters wherever this little fish is found. Moreover, the divers assert that whenever one of these fish is caught by a hook, the rest of the shoal immediately cut the line by rushing against it with their sharp spines, and thus relieve their companion.

9. In the Perch family is a small fish called the red surmullet, which is supposed to be the fish so celebrated among the Romans for the excellence of its flesh, its extreme beauty, and the extravagant sums paid for it. It appears to have been esteemed by the Roman epicures2 above every other article of food; and the larger ones, weighing five or six pounds, were obtained only at prodigious prices. Juvenal says:

"Six scanty pounds the mullet weighed ;
Six thousand sesterces3 the wise man paid!"'

Seneca mentions that a surmullet of four pounds' weight was presented to the Emperor Tiberius, who sent it to the market, where it was purchased for five thousand sesterces; and at a later period one was sold for eight thousand sesterces, a sum equal to more than three hundred dollars of our money.

10. While with these Roman epicures the smaller the turbot the greater the prize, yet they eagerly sought for the largest specimens of the mullet that could be procured. Horace supposes this mere caprice, and asks,

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