322 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



The looked-for discussion on this new topic proved abor- 

 tive ; in my own reply I simply stated that : 



" I have the ' witch' on my list, giving its legitimate name 

 as pole or craigfluke (Pleuronectes cynoglossus}, although the 

 long, rough dab (Hippoglossoides limandoides) and the [locally] 

 rarer sail fluke (Rhombus megastoma), all on my list of Norfolk 

 fishes, are by the fisher folk all classed under the silly name 

 of ' witches.' " 



Here the " witches " remained until the above paragraph, 

 dated December 29, 1906, appeared in the Angler's News 

 To this paragraph I replied as follows : 



" SIRS, . . . Now about these witches. ' Witch ' is a 

 trade name that covers a lot of, perhaps, indifferent-eating 

 sea flatfishes, and is really a genteel name for 'offal' in 

 the flat department. Smacksmen and others call the sail 

 fluke (Arnoglossus megastoma) a 'witch.' Naturalists term 

 it as follow : 



Passer cornubiensis (Jago). 



Rhombus cardina (Cuvier). 



Pleuronectes megastoma (Donovan). 



Pleuronectes pseudopalus (Pennant). 



Pleuronectes Boscii (Risso). 



Hippoglossus Boscii (Risso) (!). 



Rhombus megastoma (Nilsson). 



Zeugopterus velivolans (Richards). 



Zeugopterus megastoma (Collett). 



Arnoglossus Boscii (Giinther). 



Zeugopterus Gottsche (Winther). 



" So you see what a lot of conjuring and mystification 

 may be made with the shuffling of a few Latin names ! The 

 sail fluke and carter, of Couch, are one and the same fish. 

 This species grows to nearly two feet in length. I met with 

 some nearly that length a few months ago in a fish shop ; 

 these had come into Lowestoft harbour by a trawler, and 

 been carted to Yarmouth. We depend on Lowestoft for 

 nearly all our trawl fish ! I secured one, and had it photo- 

 graphed, thinking it might come in useful some day. . . . 



" To the sail fluke as a ' witch ' may be added the pole, or 

 long-flounder (Pleuronectes cynoglossus Linnaeus). This fish 

 has a remarkably small head for its length, differing thus 

 from the sail fluke, which has a whopper. The pole runs to 

 fourteen and sixteen inches in length. One other * witch ' is 

 the long, rough dab (Hippoglossoides limandoides Bloch), 

 which is more like the sail fluke in its proportions. This 



