64 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Dr. Cooper, in iiientiouiiig the Pleuronectoids of California, says:* 

 " The two first are species of Halibnt, one closely resembling' the Atlan- 

 tic fish, and grow over 4 feet long, the latter (No. 105, H. vulgaris f) 

 sometimes weighing five hundred or six hundred pounds. Both are 

 caught near San Francisco." 



Mr. William H. Ball, in his work on " Alaska and its Eesources," 1870, 

 p. 484, states, that "The halibut are smaller than those of the eastern 

 fisheries, but near Sitka and along the coast they have been taken from 

 three to five hundred pounds in weight. They are not found north of 

 the ice line in Bering sea, except, perhaps, in summer." In the report 

 for 1870 of the Commissioner of Agriculture, p. 381, the same author 

 employs the name ^'- Hlppoglossus vulgaris f'' in connection with the para- 

 graph on the halibut, and states that "Their range is from the Aleutian 

 Islands southwest to Cape Flattery. . . . They extend westward into 

 the Ochotsk sea with the cod and already form an article of commerce 

 among- the west-coast fishermen. They are said to surpass the eastern 

 halibut in flavor when j)roperly cured." 



Mr. Henry W. Elliott, special agent of the Treasury Department, 

 speaks thus of the halibut in a Report upon the Condition of Affairs in 

 the Territory of Alaska, Washington, 1875, p. 167 : 



"Found throughout the territory on soundings south of the 60th 

 parallel of north latitude. Halibut are quite abundant and of excellent 

 quality, but the climate is such that the fishermen cannot properly dry 

 or cure them for exportation even in small cargoes. They are, however, 

 not abundant enough for exportation, and must therefore be regarded 

 as only of local importance." 



In a report upon the Customs District, Public Service, and Resources 

 of Alaska Territory by William Gouverneur Morris, special agent of the 

 Treasury Department, 1879, p. 115, is found the following information: 



" While I was at Klawack, they were testing the boiler, new machinery, 

 and other apparatus, and were trying the experiment of canning clams 

 and halibut, both of which are so plenteous in that neighborhood as to 

 be a perfect drug. I have since seen the result of this, and can pronounce 

 the clams the very best so treated on the whole Pacific coast, and the 

 halibut is of superior quality, preserving its flavor better than any yet 

 produced from any other locality. The supply of these two articles of 

 commerce alone, from this particular place, is only to be regulated by 

 the demand." 



The only examples of the Pacific halibut in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum are those collected by Mr. W. H. Dall and Mr. Lucien 

 M. Turner. Mr. Dall's is the single available one for comparison, and 

 that lacks the caudal fin, which is fortunately present in the other. Al- 

 though both specimens are in very poor condition, there is no difficulty 

 in perceiving their identity with the Atlantic halibut. The individual 

 forwarded by Mr. Dall (collector's number 1098, museum number 22466) 

 * Cronise's Nat. Wealth Cal., 1868, p. 493. 



