193 



LONG FLOUNDEPu 



Platessa dongata, FAEnELi ; Br. Fisbes, vol. ii, p. 31S. 



Fleuronectes elongatus, GoMHEa; Cat. Br. M., vol. iv, p. 45'i. 



This is also regarded as amongst the rarer examples of 



British fishes; and so rare is it that hitherto two specimens 



only have been on record, one of which was furnished to 



Mr. Yarrell from Bridgewater Bay, in Devonshire, by INIr. 



Baker, at which place also the other was afterwards obtained. 



And even the example which was in Mr. Yarrcll's possession 



has since been so far lost sight of, that it was not handed 



over to the British Museum when the collections of that 



gentleman came into the possession of that public institution. 



It is with much pleasure, therefore, that I find myself in 



possession of two examples, for which I am indebted to the 



kindness of Edmund T. Higgins, Esq., who procured them 



from Weston, in Somersetshire; and as this lies within the 



same district as Bridgewater, we may suppose that the range 



of this fish is exceedingly limited, and that, jDerhaps, even 



there its haunts are beyond the tracks of ordinary fishing. 



Our figure is from one of these examples, which, however, 



had lost its proper colour; but we choose to represent it in 



the condition in which we find it, rather than risk the danger 



of tinging it of a doiibtful colour from description. 



The example described was seven inches and three fourths 

 in length, of which the body (exclusive of the tail) measured 

 six inches and one eighth; breadth of the body one inch and 

 six eighths; head short, measuring from the snout to the 

 border of the gill-covers one inch and a fourth; under jaw 

 protruded; gape moderately large; angle of the mouth 

 depressed. Eyes large, the lowermost a little advanced, a 

 prominent ridge between them. Body thin, shaped much like 

 VOL. 111. 2 C 



