236 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
little or no means of defence, had their colour been placed only 
above the lateral line on each side, in whatever position they 
moved their piebald appearance would have rendered them 
conspicuous objects to all their enemies. When near the 
ground, they swim slowly, maintaining their horizontal position ; 
and the smaller pectoral and ventral fins, on the under side, are 
advantageous where there is so much less room for their action 
than with the larger fins that are above. When suddenly dis- 
turbed, they sometimes make a rapid shoot, changing their 
position from horizontal to vertical; and, if the observer 
happens to be opposite the white side, they may be seen to pass 
with the rapidity and flash of a meteor. Soon, however, they 
sink down again, resuming their previous motionless horizontal 
position, and are then distinguished with difficulty, owing to 
their great similarity in colour to the surface on which they 
rest.” 
The number of species of the flat-fishes diminishes as the 
degrees of northern latitude increase. In this country we 
have twenty-three species; at the parallel of Jutland there 
are thirteen; on the coast of Norway they are reduced to 
ten; in Iceland the number is but five, and in Greenland only 
three. 
Many of them attain a considerable size, particularly the 
Halibut (Plewronectes hippoglossus). In April 1828 a speci- 
men seven feet six inches long and three feet six inches broad 
was taken off the Isle of Man, and sent to Edinburgh market. 
Olafsen mentions that he saw one which measured five ells; and 
we are told by the Norwegian fishermen that a single halibut 
will sometimes cover a whole skiff. 
Let us, however, remember that these 
stories proceed from the country 
where monstrous krakens and sea- 
snakes are most frequently seen, and 
where the mists of the north seem to 
produce strange delusions of vision. 
At all events, the halibut is better entitled to the name of 
maximus than its relation the Turbot, to which that epithet has 
been improperly applied by naturalists. The turbot, equally 
esteemed by the ancients and the moderns for the delicacy of its 
flesh, is often confounded in our markets with the halibut, but 
Halibut. 
