cperl-mode $variable

[Tribhuvan]

SUBJECT: cperl-mode not interperting "$" as in $variable
        causing emacs to bypass the font-lock
        color setting.

emacs 21.1
perl 5.8 cperl-mode.el (installed correctly)

cperl-mode works beautifully, but not recognising that
a "$" in the source is a variable and should therefore use the

(font-lock-variable-name-face ((t (:bold t :foreground "DeepSkyBlue4"))))

setting like every other mode does. (including perl-mode)

HINT:
with the cursor on a $variable in the source -
go to emacs-menu:
edit-> TextProperties-> ListProperties

returns:
Text property at 298:  fontified  t
(rather than the special qualities of a $variable)

edit-> TextProperties-> DisplayFaces

and emacs shows the correct color (like all other modes
also show correctly)

So I think it's something in cperl-mode.el that is not catching
the "$" and treating the $variable as plain (default) text.

Any suggestions?

Namaskar,
Tribhuvanji