PROGRESS OF THE BACKBONED FAMILY. 741 



than the flat-fish. The young sole, when it comes out of the egg, is not 

 flat like the young skate, but a very thin, spindle-shaped fish, something 

 like a minnow. He is then about the size of a grain of rice, very trans- 







Fig. 2. 



parent, and lives at the top of the sea. He has one eye on each side, 

 like other fish, only one eye is higher up than the other, and the single 

 fin on its back and the one under its body reach almost from head to 

 tail. In this way he swims for about a week, but he is so thin and 

 deep, and his fins are so small, that swimming edgewise is an effort, 

 and soon he falls down on one side, generally the left, to the bottom 

 of the sea. Many times he rises again, especially at first, till he has 

 got used to breathing at the muddy bottom, and meanwhile the eye 

 that lies underneath is gradually working its way round to the upper 

 side, his forehead wrinkles so as to draw the under eye up, wdiile his 

 whole head and mouth receive a twist which he never afterward loses. 

 His skeleton, it must be remembered, is still very soft, and the bones 

 of his face are easily bent ; and at last this eye is screwed round, and 

 as he lies at the bottom he can look upward with both eyes, and save 

 the under one from getting scratched by the sand, as it must have done 

 if it had remained below. 



