DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 457 



SOLEA VULGARIS, Qoensbl. 



Pleuronectes solea, l.iwi i rs, Systems Nature, ed. \. 1758, i. 270; ed. sir, 1766, 157. 



Solea vulgaris, Quensel, Vet. Lkad. Handl., 1806, 230. -Kisso. Hist. Nat. Eur. M. irid., in. 247. — Bonaparte, 



Fauna Italica, Pesci, fasc. v. -GOnther, » '.it. Fish. Brit. Mas., iv,463. — Vaillant, Exp. Sci. Travailleui 



el Talisman, Poissons, 189. 



Body elongate-ovate, its height little more than one third of its Length. Well de- \ 

 veloped pectorals on both sides, tnterorbital space two thirds of length of snout. Lateral 

 line straight, containing- about 100 scales. 



Radial formula: D. 73-84; A. i;i-73. 



Color greenish or brownish gray, spotted with brown: pectoral of right side with a 

 black or blackish blotch; left side white. 



This species, the common sole, is found from Trondhjems Fjord, ii~> N. lat., to Gibraltar, 

 and through the Mediterranean, at least to the head of the Adriatic, lake many shoal 

 water forms of the north, it occurs in the cooler depths near its southern limit, and the 

 French Expedition found it on the Banc d'Arguiu in 235 meters (station x<i). 



MICROCHIRUS, Bonaparte. 



Mierochirus, Bonaparte, Cat. Med. Pesci d'Europe, No. 429. 

 Buglossus, i subgenus i, Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 102. 



A genus closely related to Solea, but perhaps separated by its very minute pectorals. 



MICROCHIRUS VARIEGATUS, (Donovan), Moreau. 



Pleuronectes variegatus, Donovan, Nat. Hist. Brit. Fish., lsus, pi. cxvn. 



Solea Buglossus) variegatus, GOnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iv, 1862, 4119. — Day, Fishes of Great Britain 



and Ireland, ti, 13, pi. cvm, tig. 1. — Vaillant, Exp. Sci. Travailleui et Talisman, 1888, 190. 

 Wicrochirus variegatus, Moreau, Hist. Nat. Poiss. France, 181, in, M17. 

 Pleuronectes mirrorhinis. I>i: La Rocnrc, Ann. Mus.. xm, 356, fig. 2. 

 Pleuronectes Uangili, Risao, Ichth. Nice, 1S10. 310. 

 Solea Mangilii, Bonaparte, Fauna Italica, Pesci. Fasc. v. — Canestrini, Arch. Zool., i. 29, pi. in, tig. 3; 



Pesci d'ltiilia. 10(5. 

 Pleuronectes lingtila, Pennant, British Zoology, 1811', in, 313, pi. xlviii. 

 Monochirus lingula, Costa, Fauna Napolitana, ii, 50. 

 Mierochirus lingula, Bonaparte, loc. cit. 



Sole like tishes. having body somewhat elongate, its height 2| to 2£ in total length; 

 the length of head 5h. Width of interorbital space equal to length of snout and 

 diameter of orbit, and 4-4A times in length of head. Pectoral of blind side minute, the 

 other very small, its length 4.t in that of head. Scales in lateral line 85. 



Radial formula: D. <>.">-7.'>; A. 53-57. 



Color, brownish-gray, with brown transverse bands; much darker on the vertical fins. 



This form occurs as far north as Scotland and England, where it is caught in trawl nets, 

 and has been taken south of Ireland in 150 fathoms; it also occurs along the west coast of 

 France, and in the Mediterranean, as far as to the Gulf of Genoa, and the head of tin' 

 Adriatic. The French vessels found it oil' Spain in 60 to 126 meters; off Soudan, in 130 

 meters; and at 306 meters in the Gulf of Gascony (Travailleor, L880, station xvii). 



MICROCHIRUS PROFUNDICOLUS, (Vaillant), G »e and Bi is 



Solea profundicola, Vaillant, Exp. Sci. Travailleur el Talisman, i sv s. [90. 



A Mierochirus, having the height of the body one third of its length; the head one- 

 fifth. Snout round, inconspicuous. .Mouth small, extending scarcely to the vertical from 

 the middle of the lower eye, 'with teeth only on the blind side. Upper eye in advance of 

 the lower one and well opened, while the latter is curtained by an eye lid which hides it 

 to a large extent. The diameter of the orbits is about two-fifths the length of the head; 

 width of the interorbital space about one third less. Lateral lines extending without per 

 ceptible curvature from the upper eye to the middle of the caudal. Scales small, ctenoid 



