113. PLEURONECTID^— PLEURONECTES. 831 



than loiif?; caudal large, nearly as long as head. Head 3^; depth If. 



D. OS; A. 50; Lat. 1. 95. L. 12 inches. A variable species. Coast of 



California; abundant. 



( Plvuroiiichthi/s gultitlafiis Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 1856, 1.37: Pleiironertes 

 guttulatus Giinthcr, iv, 445: Parophri/.i ai/resi Giiutber, iv, 456; Gill, Proc. Acad. N.-it. 

 Sci. Phila. 1S64, 195: Pleuronichlhys guttulatus Lockiugtou, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 

 94.) 



45§.— PLEUROIVECTJES'' LiouiBus. 



Plaices. 



(Platessa Ciixicr: Platichfhi/s and Parophry s Gir-.ird: Lcpidopsetta, Myzopsetta, Liopsetta, 

 and EnchalaroduH Gill: Clidoderina and Pseudopleuronectea Bleeker: Limanda 

 GotlBche: i^Zfsws Moreau.) 



(Artedi; Linnaeus Systema NaturfB : typo Pleiironectes pi atessa h.) 



Eyes and color on the right side (except in P. stellatus, which is indif- 

 ferently dextral or sinistral). Body ovate, elliptical, compressed; head 

 moderate, sometimes tnb^rculate; mouth small, the small, narrow max- 

 illary reaching front of eye or beyond; blind side with one (rarely two) 

 series of close-set, conical or incisor-like teeth; colored side of both 

 jaws usually toothless. Scales small, ctenoid or cycloid, often imper- 

 fectly imbricated, sometimes tubercular or obsolete. Lateral line 

 nearlj^ straight, or more or less arched anteriorly, simple, or with an 

 accessory" branch. Gill-rakers small, widely set. Species very numer- 

 ous in northern seas, {-hopvv, side; vv^'xrr;-, swimmer.) 



a. Lateral line with an accessory dorsal branch, long or short. 

 b. Lateral line straight or with a slight arch. 



c. Scales mostly cycloid, small, imbricated. {Parophri)8\ Girard.) 



ia§l. P. vetMlMS (Grd.) .7. & G. 



Uniform light olive brown ; the young somewhat spotted with 

 blackish. Body elongate-elliptical; snout very prominent, much pro- 

 truding, forming an abrupt angle with the descending j^rofile; depth 

 of head opposite middle of upper eye about equalling distance from 

 middle of orbit to snout; eyes large, separated by a very narrow, high 



* " If we were to attribute to some of the characters the same generic value as in 

 other Plcuroneclklce, we should be obliged to establish a genus for almost every species, 

 and to separate lishes which evidently form one natural group" {Giiniher, iv, 438). 

 The curvature of the lateral line is here subject to much variation ; the accessory 

 lateral line, characteristic of so many Pacific species, disappears by degrees, while the 

 gradations in dentition and squauiation are so numeroue as to be apparently useless 

 for generic characters. We are unable to follow Dr. Giinther in ref>rrring to Pleuronec- 

 ies, the species of Ghfploccpluilus and Cynkoijlossus, which seem to us to represent a 

 well-dilfereutiated type. 



tGirard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 139: typo Parophrys vctuhtu Girard. 

 {rcapa, near together; ocppvi, eyebrow; in allusion to the narrow iuterocular space.) 



