GEN. MONOCHIRUS. VARIEGATED SOLE. 245 



only one example at Brighton, but a few others 

 were afterwards procured in the London Market, 

 and it is not unknown on the coast of Devonshire, 

 I where it is called the Sand Sole. The Brighton 

 fishermen take it occasionally along with the Com- 

 mon Sole, when trawling over a clear bottom of 

 soft sand ; and as this happens most frequently in 

 the direction of the French coast, they sometimes 

 call this fish the French Sole. 



Gen. LXXXV. MONOCHIRUS. In all the flat fish 

 the pectoral fins are small, and in the Soles they are 

 particularly so, the fin on the under or white side 

 being less than the corresponding one on the upper 

 side, and showing a tendency to become obsolete. 

 In the restricted group now to be considered, this 

 takes place absolutely or nearly so, the fin in ques- 

 tion being almost imperceptible or entirely dis- 

 appearing, and that on the upper side being much 

 reduced in size. In this respect these fishes are 

 exactly intermediate between the typical Soles and 

 the foreign group named Achirut, in which both 

 pectorals are wanting. The circumstance alluded 

 to is the only one in which Monochirus differs from 

 Solea, so that its value is inconsiderable, and inade- 

 quate for more than forming a section of the genus 

 Solea, or at most a very subordinate sub-genus. 



(Sp. 1 84.) M. variegatus. Variegated Sole. This 

 fish was first noticed by the editor of Pennant's 

 British Zoology, published in 1812, who named it 

 the Red-back Flounder, and supposed it to be the 

 Solea parva seu lingula of RondeleL Donovan, 



