236 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. FLAT FISH. 



By the recent modification of the Tarifi^, the dut}> 

 has been reduced. 



Every one is acquainted, either by report or ex- 

 perience, with the celebrity of the Turbot as an 

 article of luxury. " The flesh is in great request, 

 in consequence of its exquisite flavour, on which 

 account the French vulgarly call it icater or sea- 

 pheasant. It is white, fat, flaky, and delicate. It 

 has exercised the skill and ingenuity of the great 

 professors of gastronomy, in a variety of culinary 

 preparations, from the time of Apicius down to that 

 of Ude and Kitchener. The Romans entertained a 

 profound respect for the Turbot, as the following 

 passages from Horace prove : 



cum passeris, atque 



IngTistata mihi porrexerit ilia rhombi. 



Esuriens fastidit omnia, prseter 



Pavonem, rhombumque." * 



It was an enormous individual of this species 

 (although some allege, but without sufficient autho- 

 rity, that it was the Brill, the fish next described) 

 which was presented to Domitian, on which occa- 

 sion he convoked the senate to deliberate on the 

 best mode of disposing of such a treasure, t 



(Sp. 177.) R' mdgaris. The Brill, Pearl, or Bo- 

 met Fleuke. This species is frequently taken along 

 all our coasts in company with the Turbot. It is 

 less than the latter, not frequently exceeding the 

 length of eighteen inches ; the general form is simi- 



* Griffith's Cuvier, vol. x. p. 516, 

 t Juv. Sat. •¥. 



