PISH AND FISHERIES. 79 



Mr. Lee Lord, in a paper sent to the Royal Commission, gives an 

 equally interesting account of this fish. He says : — " I procure it in 

 large numbers at the mouth of Cook's River, and also near the mouth 

 of Shea's Creek, where the water is shallow. The depth varies from 4 

 feet to 12 feet, but averages about 6 feet. My mode of capture is with 

 the net or spear, for they never take the hook. I use a spear 12 feet 

 long, with one steel spike at the end 9 inches long, without a barb and 

 quite smooth, as in this way the fish is not torn or injured. The water 

 requires to be as smooth as glass, so that the bottom or sand may be 

 easily seen, and the early morning is the best time. Low tide is most 

 suitable, for the boat is then more easily managed and the water not so 

 deep. When the tide is not too strong I propel the boat with the spear, 

 so as to follow along the banks and holes where the fish lie ; if a strong 

 tide, allow the boat to drift. They lie in the sand, mostly covered all 

 over, but some only partially, when they are very easily seen. As they 

 feed the sand is disturbed, and I find them either in holes about 4 feet 

 square and 6 inches deep, or else by following their tracks along the 

 banks. By the latter method I have often gone 1 5 yards before finding 

 the fish. The first method is the most common, and in some of these 

 holes I have taken four fish (for if you spear one, the other will not 

 move till touched). Li the summer months they usually feed along the 

 edge of the channel ; in winter they go into a little deeper water, and I 

 find them then generally just inside the ledges or banks of sand formed 

 by the tide ; they are more difficult to find. 



"On the 21st February last I speared 2h dozen in less than H hour, 

 the best lot I ever procured, nearly all the same size, very fat, and full 

 of roe. Those who tasted them pronounced them the most excellent 

 they had ever seen. In January, February, March, April, October, and 

 November I have always got large numbers, — as many as five dozen 

 before breakfast, — and in these months I have found them most plentiful, 

 sometimes in one part sometimes in another, say fully 1 mile apart. 

 In the winter months. May, June, and July, I have taken large niimbers, 

 averaging 1 ^ to 2 dozen per day, but the fish is not then such good eatmg. 



" The appearance of the sole is oval-shaped, with little or no tail, grei/ 

 colour, very much the colour of the bottom; many are spotted all over 

 the top side, and get darker after being out of the water some time. 

 The bottom side is quite white ; the eye is very prominent, and often 

 looks like a pearl on the sand, and is sometimes the only method of 

 distinguishing the fish. 



"To prepare for cooking they require to be placed in boiling water from 

 ten to fifteen seconds, when the skin begins to come away from the outer 

 edge, and is then easily drawn ofi" top and bottom, with a dry cloth, from 

 the tail to the head. The skin will not come ofi" without scalding water." 



The Hon. "W. Macleay, who has always taken a very active interest in 

 our fishes, has held the ojmiion that the Pleuronectidce are not less frequent 

 in our own seas than any others. As however they are all ground fishes 

 and except in the spawning season always keep in deep water, and 

 seldom take a bait, the only way to capture them is by the use of the trawl 

 net. The experiment had not been previously tried except in a clumsy 



