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States of America confess that their country is inferior to Europe is that they have 



neither the sole nor the turbot in their seas. The only species of Solea on the 



northern part of the Atlantic coast of the United States is Solea achirus, Linngeus, a 



species with no pectoral fins, which grows to the length of only six inches, and is 



quite useless as food. Solea inscripta, Gosse, occurs at Jamaica. Other similar species, 



with pectorals rudimentary or absent, occur at the Keys of Florida. Solea reticulata, 



Gronovii, maculipinnis, mentalis, Jenynsii, in Dr. Gunther's catalogue, are all forms 



with rudimentary pectorals occurring on the Atlantic coasts of the West Indies 



and South America. In the Indian Ocean, according to Dr. Gtinther, there is one 



species, Solea Indica, from Madras, also belonging to the subgenus Achirus, In the 



East Indian seas there are several species known: Solea heterorhina, from Celebes 



and Amboyna, and Solea humilis, from the Malacca Straits and Java, with well 



developed pectorals; Solea trichodactylus and S. Thepassii, with rudimentary 



pectorals. Solea microcephala lives on the coast of New South Wales in Australia; 



further north on the west side of the Pacific we have S. Japonica, from Japan, 



S. ovata, from Chinese seas. On the east side of the Pacific, on the coast of Central 



America, there are Solea scutum, S. Fonsecensis and S. fimbriata. Thus the genus is 



well represented in all the tropical seas, extending into the temperate zones both to 



the north and south. But no species is of any importance as human food except the 



Solea vulgaris of Europe. 



