OSSEOUS FISHES. 547 



and furnished with teeth on one side only, -while the eyes are on the 

 right side. The dorsal fin commences about the mouth, and extends 

 up to the caudal or terminal fin. The Common Sole, Solea vulgaris 

 (Fig. 370), is plentiful in the Channel, along the Atlantic coasts, and 

 especially in the Mediterranean. It is brown on the right, and 

 whitish on the opposite side. Its pectoral fins are spotted black ; the 

 scales rugged and denticulate ; its size seems to vary according to the 



Fig. 370. The Common Sole (Solea vulgaris). 



coast it frequents. Off the mouth of the Seine soles are sometimes 

 taken eighteen and twenty inches in length. There are several modes 

 of taking them, but for commercial purposes it is taken by the trawl- 

 net. When the ground-hook is employed it is baited with fragments 

 of small fish. Every one knows the delicate flavour of the flesh of the 

 sole, which, however, varies greatly in different localities, those of the 

 Channel Islands being particularly choice. 



The Turbot, Rhombus maximus (Fig. 371), resembles in its general 

 form a lozenge, whence its name of rhombus. Its under jaw is more 



2 N 2 



