206 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The fin rays are as follows: — !). 67. P. 10. V. 10. A. 51. C. 16|. 



Length, twelve to eighteen inches. 



'Remarks. When my " Report on the Fishes of Massachusetts " was published, 

 I had never seen a specimen of this species. In August, 1845, Captain Atwood sent 

 me a specimen from Provincetown ; and in the following November I received one from- 

 the late Dr. Yale, from Holmes's Hole. While visiting Provincetown, in the sum- 

 mer of 1847, I saw this fish swimming about in considerable numbers, in shallow 

 water, with the Platessa oblonga and plana. It is not used there as an article of 

 food, although Dekay informs us that in New York it is considered a delicate fish. 



Massachusetts, Storek. New York, Mitchill, Dekay. 



GENUS IV. ACIIIEUS, Lacepede. 



Destitute of pectoral fins. Both eyes and color on the right side. Mouth dis- 

 torted to the side opposite the eyes. Dorsal and anal extend to the tail, but are not 

 united with it. 



ACHIRUS MOLLIS, CuV. 



The New York Sole. 



(Plate XXXII. Fig. 1. b. Lett Side of Head.) 



Pleuronectes mollis, Xew York- Sole, Mitch., Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., i. p. 388, pi. 2, fig. 4. 

 Achirus mollis, Griffith's Ccv., x. p. 499. 



" " Storer, Report, p. 149. 



" •' Dekay, Report, p. 303, pi. 49, fig. 159. 



" " Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., New Series, ii. p. 480. 



« " " Synopsis, p. 228. 



Color. Upon the right side of a dark brown, marked transversely with rather in- 

 distinct, irregular, interrupted black bands ; the left side is of a dirty Avhite, with 

 nearly circular dark brown blotches scattered over its entire surface, and also in a 

 less marked manner upon the fins. 



Description. Body oval. Length of the body, exclusive of the tail, four inches six 

 lines ; entire length, six inches ; depth of the body two inches back of the snout, 

 three inches, exclusive of the dorsal and anal fins. The length of the head is equal 

 to nearly one fifth the length of the body. The eyes are small, circular, protuberant, 

 and placed directly over each other. Directly in front of the upper eye, and in a 

 line with it, just back of the commencement of the dorsal fin, almost entirely con- 

 cealed, is a strong, compressed spine, two thirds of a line in length. The mouth is 

 small, with minute teeth in both jaws on the under side ; on the left side the aper- 

 ture is partially concealed by the upper lip. The nostrils are large. The scales on 



