176 NATUKAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



When Boston was occupied by the British during the revolutionary war, the officers of the 

 fleet are said to have been bountifully supplied with Turbot, which was caught in the neighbor- 

 hood of an outer harbor. This fact is recorded by Dr. J. V. C. Smitb, iu his ' Natural History of 

 the Pishes of Massachusetts " (Boston, 1833), on the authority of William Ladd, esq., of Maine. 

 He also mentions "a statement of Mr. Parker, the conductor of the marine telegraph," who told 

 him that "many years before, Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin brought out to this country a trawl-net, 

 such as is used on the coast of Holland, for taking Sole for the London markets, with which 

 he succeeded in capturing that delightful fish in Ipswich Bay, which was not before supposed 

 to exist here." The fish found in this manner were no doubt the common Flat Fishes of 

 Massachusetts Bay. The common Flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, taken iu Provincetown water, 

 where it is commonly called "Plaice," was in 1880 sold in Boston under the name "Turbot." 

 Captain Mackinuou, of the Royal Navy, who visited this country in 1850, conceived the idea 

 that Turbot ought to be found on the shores of the United States, and took pains to search for 

 them with a trawl-net. Th<9 nets which he used had been imported ten years before by Mr. 

 Nathan Smith, an American gentleman, who had hoped to introduce them, but had never used 

 them. Captain Mackinnon tried one net at Newport, Rhode Island, and succeeded in taking 

 a number of different kinds of Flat Fish. He carefully refrains, however, from pronouncing any 

 one of them to be identical with the Turbot or Sole, though from the vagueness of his language 

 it is evident that his ichthyological knowledge was very scanty, and that he was not accustomed 

 to observe the differences between the different species of fishes which somewhat resemble each 

 other. His experiences are described at length in his book of travels, entitled "Atlantic and 

 Trans- Atlantic Sketches, Afloat and Ashore" (Harper & Bros., New York, 1852, pp. 106-170). 

 Capt. C. C. Churchill, U. S. A., who saw the results of Captain Mackinuou's experiment, tells 

 us that the fish taken were the common species of New England flat fishes and flounders. 



We fancy that the inspiration of the new advocate of the turbot-iu- America question, as well 

 as the information upon which he bases his conclusions, was drawn from this very same book of 

 Captain Mackiunon, for he uses many of the same phrases, and he repeats, in almost the same 

 words, Captain Mackinnon's statement: "The fish markets in America are not at all iu keeping 

 with the size and wealth of the States," a statement which, however true it may have been thirty 

 years ago, will be amusing to any one who has recently had opportunity to compare the fish 

 markets of America and Europe. The Philadelphia gentleman sums up his evidence as follows : 



"The Turbot, Sole, and Plaice are, however, in abundance in your deep-water sand banks. 

 They were caught there in 1812 by English sailors, and in 1S80 Turbot have been obtained off 

 Atlantic City, if the 'Baltimore American' is any authority." 



The notion that the introduction of the English trawl iu America would be novel and would at 

 once open up a field for a fishery industry of boundless extent, deserves a word. The trawl has 

 been assiduously used by the summer collecting party of the United States Fish Commission for 

 ten years past, and also by Professor Agassiz upon various exploring trips. The steamers of the 

 Fish Commission have used it on every portion of the New England coast, and as far north as 

 Halifax. Professor Agassiz has used it in the Gulf of Mexico and on the coast of Florida, and 

 during tbe present summer, while on the Coast-Survey steamer "Bache," has employed it in 

 running five lines of research at right angles to the coast from Cape Hatteras, at points nearly 

 equidistitut between Charleston and Cape Cod, one of them directly out from the entrance to 

 Delaware Bay. These lines were carried from near the shore to a depth of twelve hundred 

 fathoms or more. 



