HAL IB UT, FLA T-FISH AND FL O UNDER. 3 2 9 



Avcstcrn side of the Atlantic, and never will l)c, unless they are introduced 

 by artificial means. 



From the beginning to the end we encounter the well-known sources of 

 conlusion — the giving of old-world names to species which resemble in a 

 general way the old-world species which bear them, and the unquestion- 

 ing acceptance of these names as authoritative, by jjcrsons who are not 

 trained to close discrimination. 



When Boston was occupied by the British during the Revolutionary war, 

 the officers of the fleet are said to have been bountifully supplied with 

 Turbot, which was caught in the neighborhood of an outer harbor. This 

 fact is recorded by Dr. J. V. C. Smith, in his " Natural History of the 

 Fishes of Massachusetts" (Boston, 1833), on the authority of William 

 Ladd, esq., of Maine. He also mentions "a statement of Mr. Parker, 

 the conductor of the marine telegraph," who told him that " manv years 

 before, Admirable Sir Isaac Coffin brought out to this country a trawl-net, 

 such as is used on tlie coast of Holland, for taking Sole for the London 

 markets, with which he succeeded m capturing that delightful fish in Ips- 

 wich Bay, which was not before supposed to exist here." The fishes found 

 in this manner were no doubt the common Flat Fishes of Massachusetts 

 Bay. The common Flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, taken in Province- 

 town watei-, where it is usually called "Plaice," was in 1S80 sold in 

 Boston under the name "Turbot." Captain Mackinnon, of the Royal 

 Navy, who visited this country in 1S50, conceived the idea that Turbot 

 ought to be found on the shores of the United States, and took pains to 

 search for them with a trawl-net. The nets which he used had been im- 

 ported ten years before by Mr. Nathan Smith, an American gentleman, 

 who had hoped to introduce them, but hail never used them. Captain 

 Mackinnon tried one net at Newport, Rhode Island, and succeeded in 

 taking a number of different kinds of Flat Fish. He carefully refrained, 

 however, from pronouncing any one of them to be identical with the Tur- 

 bot or Sole, though from the vagueness of his language it is evident that 

 his ichthyological knowledge was very scanty, and that he was not accus- 

 tomed to observe the differences between the different species of fishes 

 which somewhat resemble each other. His experiences are described at 

 length in his book of travels, entitled "Atlantic and Trans-Atlantic 

 Sketches, Afloat and Ashore " (Harper &: Bros., New York, 1852, pp. 166- 

 170). Capt. C. C. Churchill, U. S. A., who saw the results of Capt. 



