REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND F;SHERIES. 81 



the Rhode Island Fish Commission at Wickford young specimens of 

 this species are often found in the hatching boxes during the latter 

 part of May. Williams,"'' at Woods Hole, succeeded in getting 

 quantities of young in la^-val stages at and about the time of meta- 

 morphosis. These were present all through the month of June, 

 though by the 20th of the month all of this species had metamor- ' 

 phosed. He obtained these specimens by towing with a coarse 

 scrim tow-net near the wall of the "outer basin" of the United States 

 Fish Commission wharf during the rising tide. "They are most 

 abundant on clear days when the wind is on shore and the tide 

 comes in from the east. On very calm or rough days they are not 

 plentiful. My most successful skimmings were made early in June, 

 and twice I obtained as many as one hundred young fish during the 

 inward flow of the current (three to four hours)." Williams states 

 that the young reach a length of 75 mm. (3 inches) by the end of 

 August, when they were about seven months old. This statement 

 apparently refers to specimens kept under artificial conditions. 



V, Color Variations. This species is remarkably subject to 

 apparently abnormal color variations. Doctor Mitchell described 

 two color varieties of the winter flounder. "One of these had a 

 yellow margin on the lower side, surrounding the white of that side. 

 This border was three-quarters of an inch wide and in striking con- 

 trast with the pearl of the contiguous parts within it and the brown 

 of the adjacent fins. The other variety, obtained April 9th, 1815, 

 has a whiteness of the upper side and nearly as clear as that of the 

 nether surface over rather more than half its extent. The anterior 

 part is blanched in this manner."t The dorsal, anal, and ventral 

 fins were lighter than is usually the case, and their rays were tinctured 

 with yellow. 



DeKay mentions a specimen obtained in April which he describes 

 as "not only reversed but doubled." "Its color on both sides was 

 uniform bronze with a white patch on its right side near the chin, 



* Williams, loc. cit. 



* Quoted from Dr. T. H. Bean, Fishes of N. Y. Bull. N Y. State Mus., 60, 1903, 729. 



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