] 62 THE PJIOGRESS OF DEGRADATION. 



fore part of its head ; while the other, external to the cra- 

 nium altogether, we find placed among the free bones, direct- 

 ly over the maxillaries. And the wry mouth — twisted in 

 the opposite direction, as if to keep up such a balance of de- 

 formity as that which the breast-hump of a hunchback forms 

 to the hump behind — is in keeping with the squint eyes. 

 The jaws are strangely asymmetrical In symmetrical fishes 

 tlie two bones that compose the anterior half of the lower jaw 

 are as perfectly correspondent in form and size as the left 

 hand or left foot is correspondent, in the human subject, to 

 the right hand or right foot ; but not such their character in 

 the flounder. The one is a broad, short, nearly straight bone ; 

 the other is longer, narrower, and bent like a bow j and while 

 tlie one contains only from four to six teeth, the other con- 

 tains from thirty to thirty-five. Scarcely in the entire ichthyic 

 kingdom are there any two jaws that less resemble one ano- 

 ther than the two halves of the jaw of the flounder, turbot, 

 or plaice. The intermaxillary bones are equally ill match- 

 ed : the one is fully twice the size of the other, and con- 

 tains about thrice as many teeth. That bilateral symmetry 

 of the skeleton which is so invariable a characteristic of the 

 vertebrata, that ordinary observers, who have eyes for only 

 the rare and the uncommon, fail to remark it, but which a 

 Newton could regard as so wonderful, and so thoroughly in 

 harmony with the uniformity of the planetary system, has 

 scarce any place in the asymmetrical head of the flounder. 

 There exists in some of our north country fishing villages an 

 ancient apologue, which, though not remarkable for point or 

 meaning, at least serves to show that this peculiar example 

 of distortion the rude fishermen of a former age were observ 

 ant enough to detect. Once on a time the fishes met, it is 

 said, to elect a king ; and their choice fell on the herring. 

 " The herring king !" contemptuously exclaimed the flounder, 

 a fish of consummate vanity, and greatly piqued on this oo 



