REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 79 



this flat-fish to be very rare and occurring only in deep water. It 

 is very common in Vineyard Sound and is observed in water 10 to 

 12 fathoms deep, where it is present throughout the year. Numbers 

 are often eauglit, incidentally, while fishing on the bottom for other 

 species. In Great Harbor, Woods Hole, a few are taken in fyke 

 nets in winter. *Specimens have been taken on the Pecten ground, 

 off Watch Hill, Rhode Island. 



II. Reproduction. Little is definitely known with regard to the 

 reproduction of this fish. Stephen R. Williams, while collecting 

 young flat-fishes at Woods Hole in June, 1898 and 1899, in the course 

 of his investigations on the development of the winter flounder, 

 found two apparently different larval forms of flat-fishes. These 

 were of different sizes; the smaller at the end of the period of the 

 metamorphosis measured 8 to 9 mm. ; the larger at the metamorphosis 

 measured 13 to 14 mm., and were more bulky and had somewhat 

 more pigment. These larger, more pigmented, specimens were con- 

 sidered by Williams as possibly the young of the rusty flat-fish 

 {L. jerruginea).\ 



III. Food. Examination of the stomach contents of this fish 

 have shown Crustacea, molluscs, annelids, and small fishes. 



IV. Size. The average size is stated to be about 14 inches in 

 length. The specimen described by DeKay was 18 inches long and 

 8.5 inches broad. 



THE WINTER FLOUNDER. 



(Pseudopleuronectes americanus.) 



Plate VI. 



I. Habitat and Distribution. This species has an extensive range 

 along the American coast of the Atlantic; it is abundant from 

 Labrador to Chesapeake Bay. It has a preference for muddy and 



* Smith, loc. cit. 



t Changes Accompanying the Migration of the Eye in Pseudopleuronectes Americanus. 

 Stephen R. Williams, Bui. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XL, No. 1, 1902, 4. 



