PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 6 J 



Table of Measurements— Continwcd.. 



Washington, May 6, 1879. 



OIV THE OCC'UKKFNCE OF HIPl»OC;t,OSSlTS VUI^CJARIS, Ft,EM., AT 

 UNALASHKA AND ST. MICHAEL'S, AJLASKA. 



By TARLETOW H. BEAN. 



:N"o one lias yet positively identified the halibut of the Pacific coast oi 

 Xorth America with the Hiiyiyoglossus vulgaris of Fleming, so far as I 

 can learn. Ayres, in 1854,* writing of the species observed in the 

 market of San Francisco, says : " The great Bippoglossus vulgaris, uni- 

 versally known as the ' halibut,' the fishermen have assured me is some- 

 times caught near the Farallon Islands. Most of those sold in our 

 market, however, if not all, are brought from the coast further north." 

 In volume 2 of the same Proceedings (1859, p. 30), he writes: "Another 

 species, in which the eyes are on the right side, is occasionally taken 

 near the Farallon Islands, opposite the mouth of the Bay, which I do not 

 feel warranted in separating from H. vulgaris, without a direct compari- 

 son of the two. Its fin-rays are D. 102, A. 73, P. 16, V. G, C. 4, 1, 7, 8, 

 1,4. 



" It appears to be seldom quite as large as H. calif ornicus:^ 



The number of anal rays in this enumeration is smaller than usual, but 

 not improbable. 



Lord t gives a graphic account of the Indian mode of fishing for 

 halibut, and remarks as to the species : " I believe the species to be 

 the Pleuronectes liipiwglossus of Linnceus, but of this I am by no means 

 perlectly clear, as I had only an opportunity of examining this single 

 specimen, that I estimated as weighing over 300 lbs.; and it was quite 

 impossible to investigate its specific character," &c. 



*Pioc. Cal. Acad. Sci., i, 1854, Ist ed., p. 41, and2d ed., p. 40. 



\ Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British Columbia, i, 18GG, p. 149. 



