FLAT-SIDED AND FLAT-BACKED FISHES 409 



method of catching flounders is to moor the boat in a tideway, 

 and throw out from it half a dozen lines rather heavily leaded, 

 below the lead being a long snooding bearing three, four, five, 

 or six hooks. This, when lowered, streams out in the current 

 and lies flat along the bottom. The lines are hauled from time 

 to time, the fish taken off, and rebaited. It is in effect a drift- 

 trot on a small scale, and to my mind 

 is less a tackle for the sportsman than ^. 



for the professional fisherman, whose 

 only aim is to catch as many fish as 

 possible in the shortest time. 



This brings me to the end of all the 

 side-swimming flat fish worthy of note 

 for our particular purpose ; but there 

 are, as I have already hinted, other flat 

 fish which have not the remarkable 

 peculiarity of twisting an eye from 

 one side of the head to 

 the other in childhood's 

 days. Neither have they 

 the perpetual sneer of 

 the sole, but, on the 

 other hand, possess fea- 

 tures by no means de- 

 void of expression, and 

 tails which many a dog 



might envy. These are the skates and rays, of the important 

 family named Raiida. 



The sometimes sinister-, sometimes merry-, looking mouths 

 of these fish, as well as their gills, are on their bellies. Nature 

 having found this an inconvenient arrangement, especially as 

 regards the breathing apparatus, added breathing holes on the 

 top of the head, through which water is taken to the gills. In 



HOOK FOR 

 FLOUNDERS 



PIN TACKLE FOR 

 FLOUNDERS AND 

 THORN HOOK 

 (ACTUAL SIZE) 



