THE SOLE. 237 
may be easily recognised by the large unequal and obtuse 
tubercles on its upper part. 
The number of turbot brought 
to Billingseate within twelve 
months, up to a recent period, 
was 87,958. Though very con- 
siderable quantities of this fish 
are now taken on various parts of 
our own coasts, from the Orkneys Rey 
to the Land’s End, yet a prefer- eur ae 
ence is given to those caught by 
the Dutch fishermen, who are supposed to draw not less than 
80,0001. for the supply of the London market alone. According 
to Mr. Low, it is rare along our most northern shores, but 
increases in numbers on proceeding to the south. 
Next to the turbot, the Sole is reckoned the most delicate of 
the flat-fisbes. It inhabits the sandy shore all round our coast, 
where it keeps close to the bottom, 
indiscriminately feeding on smaller 
testaceous animals, crustacea, anne- 
lides, radiata, and the spawn and fry 
of other fishes. It is found northward 
as far as the Baltic and the seas of sala: 
Scandinavia, and southward along the 
shores of Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean. The con- 
sumption is enormous, for Mr. Bertram informs us that no less 
than 100,000,000 soles are annually brought to the London 
market.* They seldom take any bait, and are caught almost 
* We are told by the same author (“ Harvest of the Seas,” Murray, 1866) that 
600,000 cod-fish, 25,000,000 mackerel, 35,000,000 plaice, and 200,000,000 had- 
docks, &c., form the yearly supply of the metropolis, which, besides this immense 
number of white-fish, consumes 50,000,000 red herrings and 1,600,000 dried cod. 
These, with the addition of Molluscous shell-fish (oysters, &c.) to the amount of 
920,000,000, and a daily demand for 10,000 lobsters during the season, afford an 
instructive indication of what must be the requirement of the whole population of 
the United Kingdom as regards fish food. 
The Report of the Commissioners appointed in the year 1863 to enquire into the 
sea-fisheries of the United Kingdom gives us the gratifying intelligence that the 
number of fishermen in Great Britain has nearly doubled within the last twenty 
years, while the boats are increasing in number and size. No class of the popula- 
tion is said to be in a more flourishing condition ; and this prosperity is no doubt 
mainly due to the railroads, which have opened throughout the whole kingdom 
