SOLE. 349 



Soles appear to thrive well in fresh water. Dr. M'Cul- 

 loch, in his papers on " Changing the Residence of certain 

 Fishes from salt water to fresh,"* says, he was informed that 

 a Sole had been kept in a fresh-water pond in a garden for 

 many years ; and adds, that in Mr. Arnold's pond at Guern- 

 sey, which has been before referred to, the Sole becomes 

 twice as thick as a fish of the same length from the sea. A 

 letter from a gentleman residing on the banks of the Arun 

 contains the following statement : " I succeeded yesterday 

 in seeing the person who caught the Soles about which you 

 inquire, and who has been in the constant habit of trawling 

 for them with a ten-feet beam trawl in this river for the last 

 forty years. The season for taking them is from May till 

 November. They breed in the river (Arun), frequenting 

 it from the mouth five miles upwards, "f* which is nearly to 

 the town of Arundel, and remain in it the whole year, bury- 

 ing themselves in the sand during the cold months. The 

 fisherman has occasionally taken them of large size, two 

 pounds'" weight each, but frequently of one pound ; and they 

 are thicker in proportion than the Soles usually caught at 

 sea : in other respects, precisely the same ; and it is evident 

 they breed in great numbers in the river from the quantity of 

 small ones about two inches long that are constantly brought 

 on shore when drawing the net for Grey Mullet." 



Reversed Soles that is, having the eyes and the brown 

 colour on the left side instead of the right are not uncom- 

 mon : and I possess a specimen that is of the usual dark 

 colour, with rough ciliated scales on both sides. 



The length of the head is to the whole length of the entire 

 fish as one to six ; the breadth of the body, dorsal and anal 

 fins excluded, compared to the whole length, as one to three : 



* Royal Institution Quarterly Journal, No. xxxiv. July 1824, and No. 

 xxxviii. July 1825. 



t For a view of this part of the Arun, see vol. i. page 244. 



