the sole as it appears on our dishes at table, or as it lies on the 
marble slab in a fishmonger’s shop. The two sides are different ; 
the under side is white, and the upper coloured; and the eyes 
are both on the coloured side, not very far from each other, 
This is the fish in its adult state. What is it now when young ? 
In this state its form and habits are totally different. Its two 
sides are symmetrical, equally coloured, with an eye on each side 
of its head; the body is transparent; it swims in a vertical 
position like other fishes, and is more often met with in the 
open ocean than near the coast. When the new form is about 
to be assumed, it leaves the open ocean, comes nearer to the 
shore, and lies mostly at the bottom where there is only a 
moderate depth of water. Then, as Dr. Giinther—our great 
authority on fishes—describes it, “as soon as the body of the 
fish commences to rest on one side only, the eye of that side, in 
its tendency to turn towards the light, carries the surrounding 
parts of the head with it; in fact the whole of the fore part of 
the head is twisted towards the coloured side, and becomes as 
we see it.” 
Such is the wondrous change of form in this fish. How it is 
exactly effected, we need more research thoroughly to understand. 
But the fact itself is certain ; and it is surmised further that some 
other fishes, also surface swimmers, and of a thin slender make, 
may be only the first forms of others, different in all respects, 
which have hitherto never been identified with them. 
There are ground fishes too which seem to undergo change, 
not in the lifetime of individuals, but in the course of after 
generations. I refer especially to the “angler,” so called from an 
upright filament on the head, moveable in any direction and 
terminating in a lappet, with which he plays as with a bait to 
entice the small fishes on which it preys. The angler is a great 
ugly fish with a flattened body, and an enormous gape bristling 
_ with sharp teeth ; it is also remarkable for its pectoral and ventral 
fins, more like hands and feet, by the help of which it shifts its 
