DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 435 



The halibut were once very abundant in Massachusetts Bay, but are now found chieflj al 

 a depth of 100-300 fathoms on the slopes of the outer banks, where they are soughl by a 

 large Beet of Gloucester fishing schooners. Individuals are occasionally taken near the 

 shore. In 1875 one weighing about 200 pounds was caught l>y a dory fisherman off Halt 

 way Rock, Salem Barbor, and one still larger in Gloucester Harbor, in August, 1878. 



The New London halibut smacks obtain many halibut on the south part of Georges 

 Banks and the neighboring shoals. An individual was taken, years ago, on the outei side 



of Fishers Island, Connecticut. The halibut may. in all probability, be found to be abun- 

 dant on I he edge of tin' ec nit i lien tal slope south of Cape Cod, since here have been recent ly 

 obtained nearly all the species most constantly associated on the northern halibut grounds 

 on the outer edges of La Have, browns. Sable Island, and other banks oft' the coast of 

 Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. 



PLATYSOMATICHTHYS, Bleeker. 



Reinhardtiua, Gill, Cat. Fish. E. ('nasi N. Amer. 1861, 50 (name only). 

 Platyeomatichtkys, Bleeker, Comptes Rendns, Acad. Sci. Amsterdam, xm, 1862. 



Dextral pleuronectoids, having the body somewhat elongate. Head and mouth large; 

 maxillary reaching beyond vertical from anterior margin of eye. Jaws with strong, un- 

 equal teeth; the upper with two series in front, which converge posteriorly, the lower with 

 a series of strong, distant teeth; vomer and palatines toothless. Gill rakers few in num- 

 ber, short and rough. Tins low, the caudal flu crescentic. Lower pharyngeal teeth in a 

 single row . Scales small, cycloid, the lateral line straight. (Jordan.) 



PLATYSOMATICHTHYS HIPPOGLOSSOIDES, (Walbaum), Goode ami Bean. (Figure 364.) 



I'h uronei tea cynogloasua, Fabricius, 17S0 (not Gronovius). 



Pleuronectee Jiippogloaaoiih * , Wai.b.um, Artedi, Pise, 1792, 151. 



Reinhardtiua hippogloaaoides, Gill, Cat. Fish. E. Coast N.Am., 1861,50; Prov. Acad. Nat. Sri. Phila., 1864, 21*. 



PlatysoiiKilii hilu/n hippogloasoides, Goode and IIi.an, Cat. Fish, Essex Co.. 1879, 7. — Jordan and Gilbert, 



Bull. XVI, U. S. Nat. .Mns., 819. — COLLETT, Norsk. Nordliavs. Exp. Fisk., 111'. 

 Pleuronectea pinguU, Fabricius, K. Vid. Srlsk. Nat. och Math. Afli., 1824, 13, 

 Hippogloasus pinguia, Gaimard. Vby. Skand. ct Lap. Poiss., pi. xxii. 1 



Platyaomatii hthys pinguis, Bleeker, Versl. Medelel. K. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, xm, 1862, 426. 

 Uippogloaaua pinguis, Coi.i.ett, Norges Fiske, 1875, 135. — Gcnther, Challenger Report, xxii, 1887, 161. 

 Hippogloeaua grcenlandicus, GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 1862, 404. 



Body elongate, its height one-third of its length, that of the head one fourth. Eyes 

 parallel: the diameter of the orbit is one-eighth the length of the head, and one half that 

 of the snout; interorbital space tlat, wider than the orbit. Lower jaw prominent, the length 

 of the maxillary two-fifths of head. Teeth conical, pointed, in two scries, convergent pos- 

 teriorly on the upper jaw, those of the outer series decreasing in size; a pair of strong 

 canines in the inner series in front, the others very small; a series of strong, distant teeth 

 on lower jaw. (iill rakers short, thick, and strongly dentate. Fins naked. Dorsal and 

 anal rays simple, the dorsal beginning over posterior third of the eye, its longest rays one- 

 third length of head. Scales small, not ciliated. 



Radial formula: D. 100; A. 75. 



Color, brownish, or yellowish gray. 



An Arctic species frequently brought in by the halibut fishing schooners of Glouceoter. 

 Its range extends as far south as the gully between be Have and browns banks ami 

 Georges banks. A young specimen, 1 <»."> mm. in length (I). 91 ; A. 72), was trawled by the 

 .1 //»(/;■</.« at station 2431, in 43° N. lat., 57° 40' 30" W. Ion., at a depth of 129 fathoms. The 

 species also occurs in deep water off Norway, and a young one was taken by the Norwegian 

 North Atlantic Expedition, southwest of bear Island, in 147 fathoms. Unlike adult indi- 

 viduals, the young have the blind side colorless. 



