the Genus Monochirus. 403 



Hist./ vol. ii. p. 19, could only, from a want of specimens, be 

 treated of problematically. This I now proceed to do as sup- 

 plementary to what appeared in the ( Annals ;' but it may be 

 well, in the first place, to give a slight sketch of the British 

 Monochiri, in so far as our present knowledge extends. 



The first British Monochirus I am aware of being noticed* 

 is that figured under the name of Variegated Sole in ' Dono- 

 van's British Fishes/ (pi. 117*) the individual represented 

 having been purchased in the London market in April 1807* 

 but where captured is not mentioned. In the edition of Pen- 

 nant's e British Zoology' published in 1812, Mr. Hanmer 

 figured and described a species by the appellation of Red- 

 backed Flounder, and stated it to be " common in the spring 

 upon the coast near Plymouth." In the sixth volume of the 

 ( Magazine of Natural History/ p. 530, a specimen of " Solea 

 variegata " is noticed by Dr. Scouler to have been taken at 

 Rothsay in the isle of Bute. Mr. Jenyns, in his ' Manual of 

 British Vertebrate Animals/ p. 468, takes his description 

 from one procured at Weymouth ; and Mr. Yarrell, in his 

 c History of British Fishes/ v. ii. p. 262, figures and describes 

 an individual supplied from Cornwall by Mr. Couch, and 

 mentions, in addition, from the MS. of Montagu, that this 

 naturalist received a specimen 9 inches in length from Dr. 

 Leach, who purchased it with two others in Plymouth market 

 in August 1808. Thus far our authors, with the exception 

 of Mr. Jenyns, (who leaves it to be proved by future investi- 

 gation whether there be not a second species,) speak only of 

 one Monochirus, 



In the first volume of the £ Magazine of Zoology and Bo- 

 tany/ p. 526, Dr. Parnell described a Monochirus, which is 

 taken at Brixham, under the specific name of minutus, intro- 

 ducing it doubtfully as a new species, but with certainty as 

 distinct from the " red-backed Sole, Mon. Lingula" and, as 

 such, an addition to the British Fauna. Lastly, the Septem- 

 ber number of the ( Annals ' contains observations by myself 

 on two species of Monochirus taken on the coast of Ireland. 



To attempt placing the species, of which notices are here 

 brought together, in a clearer light, is the object of the pre- 

 sent communication ; and although this may to a certain ex- 



2e2 



