The shape of its body is well proportioned, but many variations occur, some specimens being singularly high-backed, others low and long-bodied, sometimes such variations are local, and Agassiz and other naturalists at one time thought it possible to distinguish two species of the common perch of Europe; there are not even sufficient grounds, however, for separating specifically the North-American form, which in the majority of ichthyological works is described as Perca flavescens. The brilliant and striking colours of the perch render it easily recognizable even at a distance. A rich greenish-brown with golden reflections covers the back and sides, which are ornamented with five or seven dark cross-bands. A large black spot occupies the membrane between the last spines of the dorsal fin; and the ventral, anal and lower part of the caudal are bright vermilion. In the large peaty lakes of north Germany a beautiful variety is not uncommon, in which the golden tinge prevails, as in a goldfish.
The Perch, Perca fluviatilis.
The perch is strictly carnivorous and most voracious; it wanders about in small shoals within a certain district, playing sad havoc among small fishes, and is therefore not to be tolerated in waters where valuable fry is cultivated. Perch of three pounds in weight are not infrequently caught in suitable localities; one of five would now be regarded as an extraordinarily large specimen, although in older works we read of individuals exceeding even that weight.
Perch are good, wholesome food, and highly esteemed in inland countries where marine fish can be obtained only with difficulty. The nearly allied pike-perch is one of the best European food fishes. The perch is exceedingly prolific; it begins to spawn when three years old, in April or in the first half of May, depositing the ova, which are united by a viscid matter in lengthened or net-shaped bands, on water plants.
PERCH (through Fr. perche from Lat. pertica, a pole or rod used for measurement), a bar or rod used for various purposes, as e.g. for a navigation mark in shallow waters, for a support on which a bird may rest, or for a pole which joins the back with the fore part of a wagon or other four-wheeled vehicle. As a term of linear measurement, “perch,” also “rod” or “pole,”＝1612 ft., 55 yds; of superficial area,＝3014 sq. yds.; 160 perches＝1 acre. As a stonemason’s measure, a “perch”＝1 linear perch in length by 112 ft. in breadth and 1 ft. in thickness.
PERCHE, a region of northern France extending over the departments of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe. Its boundaries are Normandy on the N. and W., Maine on the S.W., Vendômois and Dunois on the S., Beauce on the E. and Thimerais on the N.E. The greater part of the district is occupied by a semicircle of heights (from 650 to 1000 ft. in height) stretching from Moulins-la-Marche on the north-west to Montmirail on the south; within the basin formed thereby the shape of which is defined by the Huisne, an affluent of the Sarthe, lie the chief towns—Mortagne, Nogent-le-Rotrou and Bellême. Stock-raising and dairy-farming are flourishing in the Perche, which is famous for the production of a breed of large and powerful horses. Cider-apples and pears are grown throughout the district. In the middle ages the Perche constituted a countship of which Corbon, Mortagne and Nogent-le-Rotrou were successively the capitals. Under the ancien régime it formed, together with Maine, a gouvernement of which Mortagne was the capital.
PERCIVAL, JAMES GATES (1795–1856), American poet, philologist and geologist, was born in Kensington parish, Berlin, Connecticut, on the 15th of September 1795. He graduated at Yale in 1815, and in 1820 took the degree of M.D., and started practice in Berlin. He contributed verse to the Microscope, a semi-weekly paper, founded at New Haven in 1820. In this first appeared his best-known poem, “The Suicide,” which reflects his chronic melancholy, due doubtless to ill-health; it was begun in 1816 and finished in 1820, after he had actually made two attempts on his own life. In 1823 Percival became an editor of the Connecticut Herald at New Haven, and in 1824 he was in turn an assistant-surgeon and lecturer on chemistry at West Point, and an inspector of recruits at the Charlestown (Mass.) Navy Yard. He prepared (1826–1831) an English edition of Malte-Brun’s Geography (published 1834); and in 1827–1829 read the manuscripts and proof-sheets of Webster’s Dictionary, giving special attention to scientific words. In 1835–1840, with Professor Charles U. Shepard (1804–1886), he made a geological survey of Connecticut; his Report (1842) showed great learning and much patient research. In 1854 he became state geologist of Wisconsin, and in 1855 published one volume of his Report; the second he had nearly completed at the time of his death, on the 22nd of May 1856, at Hazel Green, Wisconsin.
See his Poetical Works (2 vols., Boston, 1859), with a biographical sketch by L. W. Fitch; and Julius H. Ward, Life and Letters of James Gates Percival (Boston, 1866).
PERCY (Family). This family, whose deeds are so prominent in English history, was founded by William de Perci (c. 1030–1096), a follower of the Conqueror, who bestowed on him a great fief in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The register of Whitby Abbey, which he founded anew, and in later days the heralds, were responsible for the fabulous origin and pedigree of the family which are still current. By Emma, daughter of Hugh de Port, a great Hampshire baron, William was father of several sons, of whom Alan the eldest succeeded him. His grandson William was the last of the house in the direct line, and left two sisters and co heiresses, Maud countess of Warwick, who died childless, and Agnes. Agnes de Perci had married Josceline, styled “brother of the queen” (i.e. Adeliza of Louvain, second wife of Henry I.), whose legitimacy has been questioned, and from this marriage descended the second house of Percy (which name it assumed), till its own extinction in the male line five centuries later (1670). By it was brought into the family the great Petworth estate in Sussex, which Josceline had obtained from his sister, who was holding Arundel and its fief. His son Richard (c. 1170–1244) and Richard’s nephew William (c. 1183–1245) were among the barons who rose in arms against John, but the latter made his peace with Henry III., and had his lands restored to him. Richard de Percy was one of the twenty-five barons appointed to enforce the observance of Magna Carta.
The next important member of the family is William’s grandson Henry de Percy (c. 1272–1315), whom Edward I., after the deposition of John Baliol, appointed governor of Galloway, and who was one of his most active agents in the subjugation of Scotland till the success of Robert Bruce drove him out of Turnberry Castle, and made him withdraw into England. He was rewarded by Edward II. with the barren title of earl of Carrick, declared to be forfeited by the Scottish hero; and the same king appointed him governor of the castles of Bamburgh and Scarborough. But in 1309 he himself made his position strong in the north of England by purchasing lands from Anthony Bek, bishop of Durham, among which was the honour of Alnwick, the principal seat of the family ever since. The Percies had chiefly resided till then at Spofforth in Yorkshire, and their connexion with Northumberland dates from this acquisition. Henry’s son, another Henry (c. 1299–1352), took part in the league against Edward II.’s favourites the Despensers, was in favour with Edward III., and obtained from Edward Baliol as king of Scotland grants of Lochmaben, Annandale and Moffatdale, which he surrendered to the English king for the castle and constableship of Jedburgh, or Jedworth, with the forest of Jedworth and some neighbouring towns. A few years later, in fuller recompense of the unprofitable gift of Baliol, a grant of 500 marks a year was made to him out of the old customs at Berwick.
