TURBOT. 157 



sj)read out the rays of their fins, and move them to and fro 

 to attract little fishes so as to devour them. It is further said 

 that the true Turbot does not j^ossess such rays to its dorsal 

 fin as are fitted to this alleged use, while the Brill is thus 

 furnished, as indeed may be seen in a sketch we give of a 

 fish of that species which is thus ornamented or supi)lied. 



It is certain, however, that there is a mistake in these 

 particulars, and consequently in the argument which is derived 

 from them; and that this development of the first rays of the 

 dorsal fin is not only not a circumstance peculiar to the Brill, 

 but when it occurs that it is only an exceptional case in that 

 fish — occurring only once in many instances, without reference 

 to sex or age; while it is found just as often in some others 

 of the same family. 



In one example of a Turbot, in which both sides were 

 alike in colour, there proceeded from before the eyes a process 

 thi-ee inches in length, thin in substance, and nearly as wide 

 as the breadth of the finger. It was directed forward, and so 

 far differed from the rays of the fin as not to be connected 

 with them; but although this may have been an abnormal 

 formation, yet an enlarged develojament of the front rays of 

 the dorsal fin is in this fish far from being an extraordinary 

 occurrence. In this argument, so far as regards magnitude, an 

 objection lies against the Brill, that it is never found of equal 

 size with a Turbot of full growth; and the following instances 

 tend to shew that in some cases the Turbot only can answer 

 the requirements of Juvenal's sarcasm or Martial's epigram. 



It is not uncommon to meet with one of the weight of 

 thirty pounds, and I possess a note of an example of which 

 the weight was seventy pounds; but even this was exceeded 

 by one which is mentioned by Lacepede; another is recorded 

 to have been caught in Scotland of the weight of ninety 

 pounds and a quarter; and these again were far exceeded by 

 one which that eminent naturalist, Rondeletius, informs us he 

 himself saw, which in length measured five cubits, or seven 

 feet and a half, with a breadth of four cubits, and in thickness 

 a foot; which dimensions will fully answer, and perhaps exceed 

 all that is said of the Turbot of Domitian, but which cannot 

 be applied to any Brill of which there exists a record. Again, 

 in the account given of this transaction, one of the speakers 



