488 



Survey of Fishing- Grounds, West Coast of Ireland, 1890—1891. 



more rounded in R. Boscii ; and, although in both specimens the greatest height 

 of the body is about two-fifths of the total length, without the caudal, the shape is 

 quite different. The abrupt rise of the dorsal profile in R. Boscii is continued 

 backwards in a bold curve, while the ventral profile is correspondingly tumid. 



The greatest height is reached at a point a little in rear of the base of the 

 pectoral, and practically the same height is maintained as far back as a point, the 

 distance of which from the snout is equal to the greatest height of the body. 

 Behind this the body tapers rather rapidly towards the caudal peduncle. The 

 sail-fluke is much more evenly fusiform in shape, the difference between the 

 anterior and posterior tapering being less strongly marked, while the anterior 

 profile, as already remarked, is very much more pointed. The spots on the dorsal 

 and anal, present in R. Boscii, are of course wanting in the sail-fluke, though as 

 Giinther remarks that these are subject to fading, if the specimen becomes stale 

 before being placed in spirits, it is evident that their absence cannot always be 

 held to be of specific value. 



It is quite possible that the eyes of deep-water specimens of R. megastoma may 

 be larger than those of their littoral brethren, and we note that Day gives the 

 length of the eye as one-fourth of that of the head, while in the specimen cited by 

 Giinther it measured \^ of the same dimensions. The specimen which we have 

 represented for comparison with R. Boscii was taken from a depth exceeding 

 100 fathoms. 



The dimensions of the Mediterranean R. Boscii are as follows : — 



The fin-ray formula is D. 82, A. 64. The spots on the dorsal fin are between 

 the 65th and 68th, and the 75th and 77th rays ; those of the anal between the 

 50th and 52nd, and the 58th and 60th. The last three rays of each fin are 

 arranged in fan-like processes on the blind side of the caudal peduncle. 



Genus Arnoglossus, Bleeker. 

 Arnoglossus laterna, Walbaum. The Scaldfish. (Littoral.) 



Pleuronectes laterna, 

 Arnoglossus laterna. 



Walbaum, Art. iii., p. 121. 



GuNTHEE, " Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus.," iv., p. 417. 



