HALIBUT, FLAT-FISH AND FLOUNDER. 309 



Sweden, " Hallefisk " or " Halleflundra," while in Holland the name is 

 " Heilbot." 



In studying these names it should be borne in mind that " But " or 

 " Bott " is another word for a flounder or flat fish, and that the English, 

 Dutch, German, and Scandinavian prefixes to either this word, or the 

 ecjuivalent word Flounder, are presumably of the same meaning. A false 

 derivation has been imagined for the name, which is exemplified in the 

 German word " Heiligebutt " just mentioned, and also in the English 

 orthography, which is sometimes encountered " Holybut." This is with- 

 out foundation, for the Halibut has never been mentioned more than any 

 other species of flat fish, and the derivation is as fanciful as the New Eng- 

 land one of " Haul-a-boat," which our fishermen have frequently assured 

 me is the proper name, referring to the size and the strength of the fish. 

 The true derivation of the word is best understood by a study of its Scan- 

 dinavian names, from which it appears that the prefix has reference 

 simply to the holes or deep places at sea in which the fish is found, and 

 that the name simply means, " a deep-sea fish," or " a deep-sea flounder." 

 The name " Fletan " which a species bears in France is not distinctive, 

 the fish being almost unknown in that country. 



Half a century ago Halibut were extremely abundant in INIassachusetts 

 Bay. Elsewhere in this essay are given several instances of their great 

 plenty and voracity, as narrated by some of the early fishermen of Cape 

 Ann. Of late years, however, few are found except in deep water on the 

 off-shore banks. 



The presence of so important a food-fish as the Halibut in America did 

 not long escape the observations of the early English ex]:>lorers. Capt. 

 John Smith, in his " History of Virginia," wrote : " There is a large sized 

 fish called Halibut, or Turbot ; some are taken so bigg that two men have 

 much a doe to hall them into the boate ; but there is such plenty, that the 

 fisher men onely eate the heads & finnes, and throw away the bodies ; 

 such in Paris would yeeld 5. or 6. crownes a peece : and this is no 

 discommodity." 



The Halibut is surpassed in size by only three of our eastern species — 

 th^ sword-fish, the tunny, and the tarpum. There is said, by experienced 

 fishermen, to be a great difference in the size of the two sexes, the females 

 being much the larger ; the male is said rarely to exceed fifty pounds in 

 ^veight, and to be, ordinarily, in poor condition and less desirable for 



