156 



THE FLAT FISH. 



[CHAP. iv. 



capital sport ; and the mackerel-herring and conger-eel can 

 also be taken in considerable quantities. I can strongly 

 recommend the lythe-fisbing to gentlemen who are liases of 

 salmon or pike, or who do not find excitement even among the 

 birds of lone St. Kilda. Then, as will afterwards be described, 



THE ANGLER FISH. 



there is the extensive family of the flat fish, embracing brill, 

 plaice, flounders, soles, and turbot. The latter is quite a 

 classic fish, and has long been an object of worship among 

 gastronomists ; it has been known to attain an enormous size. 

 Upon one occasion an individual, which measured six feet 

 across, and weighed one hundred and ninety pounds, was 

 caught near Whitby. The usual mode of capturing flat fish is 

 by means of the trawl-net, but many varieties of them may be 

 caught with a hand-line. A day's sea- angling will be chequered 



