228 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. FLAT FISH. 



inferior to none of the Platessae ; from April to 

 June, on the contrary, the taste is coarse and dis- 

 agreeable, having a strong tarry flavour. 



(Sp. 172.) P. pola. Pole-Fluke, or Pole Dab. 

 This species was first detected in Britain by Mr. 

 Yarrell, who observed it among a number of other 

 different kinds, in a fishmonger's shop in London, 

 in the year 1833. The first published record of it 

 as a British species, is, however, to be ascribed to 

 Dr. Parnell, who inserted a notice of it in the Edin- 

 burgh New Philosophical Journal for 1835. He 

 found it in the Firth of Forth, and at first appears 

 to have regarded it as undescribed. He subsequently 

 obtained three examples at Brixham on the coast 

 of Devon ; and in the Firth of Forth, since its first 

 discovery, about fifteen specimens have occurred. 

 It is kno^^^l to the fishermen in the last mentioned 

 locality by the name of Craig-Fluke. It is obviously 

 the Platessa pola of Cuvier, and this Mr. Yarrell 

 regards as identical with the Pleuronectes cynoglosms 

 of Linna?us, and P. nigromanus of Nilsson. It may 

 be distinguished from all its allies, except P. liman- 

 doides and P. elongata^ by having the lateral line 

 straight ; and from the former of these by the body 

 being smooth, the scales, although large, being nei- 

 ther ciliated nor in any way roughened ; and from 

 the latter by the comparatively wide body, which, 

 to the whole length, is rather more than a third, 

 while in P. elongata, it is as one to four and a half. 

 Cuvier says that its flesh is considered in France as 

 equal to that ^f the sole ; and the individuals found 



