232 



1^*TE0DUCTI0N TO ZOOLOGY. 



to the sides of the glass vessel in which they were kept, or 

 cast themselves free and pursue their course. Many of these 

 marine creatures are highly interesting objects for observation, 

 and after being kept for a day or two, may be returned to the 

 sea uninjured ; so that death is not the necessary consequence 

 of their temporary imprisonment. 



PleuronectidcB.*- — To this family belong the Plaice (Platessa 



vulgaris, Fig. 201), the 

 Flounder {Platessa flcsus), 

 the Sole (Solea vulgaris), 

 and other well-known flat- 

 fish. Few are perhaps 

 aware of their importance, 

 regarded merely in the 

 light of a marketable com- 

 modity. It is stated that 

 Fig, 201.— Plaice. for Turbot {Rhomhus maxi- 



mus, Fig. 202) brought to the London market, the Dutch 

 are paid £80,000 a-year ; and that the Norwegians receive 



from £12,000 to £15,000, 

 annually for sauce for this 

 luxury, extracted from one 

 million of lobsters taken 

 on the shores of Norway. 

 The Turbot is considered 

 to have been the Rhomhus 

 of the ancient Romans ; 

 and Juvenal alludes in his 

 "Satires" to one of 



g. 202,— TUEBOT. 



enor- 



mous size, taken in the reign of Domitian, who ordered a 

 consultation of the senate, to devise the best mode of bringing 

 it to table : — 



" No vessel they find fit to hold such a fish, 

 And the senate's convoked to decree a new dish." 



The next family (Gadidiv) contains a number of species 

 which yield a most abundant supply of nutritious food, and give 

 employment even on the British coasts to many thousands of 

 hardy boatmen and mariners. It includes the Cod {Fig. 203), 

 the Haddock, the Whiting, the Hake, the Ling, and others. 



* The term is compounded of two Greek words, signifying to swim on 

 one side, which is the well-known movement of these fishes. 



