320 AMERICAN FISHES. 



town, but the greater portion is sent iced to New York, where a price of 

 twelve cents a pound wholesale, is easily obtained. In Boston there is no 

 market for them. 



On the coast of New Jersey Prof Baird states that in 1854 they were 

 taken in large numbers, by means of nets, in the deep slues along the 

 beach. Along the southern coast they are occasionally taken by the line 

 fishermen, and a considerable quantity is seined by the river fishermen. 



In the Gulf of Mexico they are rarely taken by hook and line, and are 

 usually speared or jigged at night, by torchlight. 



The Plaice has always been the most popular of our in -shore flat fishes, 

 being exempt in a certain degree from the prejudice attaching to the fishes 

 of this family. It seems to have been a common food-fish in South Caro- 

 lina as early as 1760, and Schoepf mentions it as one of the food-fishes of 

 New York in 1776. In 1856, according to Gill, it was found in the New 

 York market in autumn, but seems to have been less in favor than the 

 Flat Fish. At present the Plaice is growing in favor in New York, and is 

 upon the lists of all good restaurants, though perhaps not so generally 

 consumed as the Flat Fish, which comes in the winter, when the market is 

 less lavishly supplied. 



In Boston, and indeed throughout the greater part of New England, 

 this, with all other Flounders, is considered unfit to eat, and it is by no 

 means generally popular along the Southern coast, though in Florida its 

 flesh is highly prized. The Connecticut fishermen esteem it greatly, and 

 when preparing it for their own use are accustomed to hang it in the open 

 air for a day or two " to dry," as they say. The wholesale price in New 

 York varies from one and a half to six cents, but is usually three cents a 

 pound. 



Another species of Flounder, closely related to the Plaice, is the common 

 Four-spotted Flounder, Paralichthys oblongus, which occasionally finds its 

 way to market in company with the Plaice, and is doubtless sold under the 

 same name. It is a small species, rarely attaining a greater length than 

 twelve inches and a weight of one pound. It may be readily distinguished 

 by the presence upon the back of four large, dark spots, elliptical in form, 

 but these soon fade out after death. 



Its distribution is much more restricted than that of the Plaice : it is 

 most abundant, at a depth often to twenty fathoms, ofi" the southern coast 

 of New England ; it rarely occurs north of Cape Cod, though one 



