The Flounder.} OF ORKNEY. 213 



vast numbers of them caught with a seine net, of different di- 

 mensions, from half a pound to two or three, seldom exceed- 

 ing the last. 



It is very delicate eating, especially fried, and most com- 

 monly here dressed in this way. 



The back is rough, with rows of prickles, which are placed 

 at the beginnings of the rays of its fins, and on the sideline ; 

 the colour of the back is brown ; the belly white. 



Species 4. The Sole. 



Solea, the Sole Fleuk, Sib. Scot. 24. Pleuronectes Solea, Lin. Sys. 457. Brit. 



Zool. 190. 



EASILY distinguished from the rest of the genus, by being 

 the narrowest, in proportion to its length, of any of them. 



The scales are small, armed with prickles at one end, which 

 makes the fish feel rough to the hand ; they are commonly 

 shewn as curiosities in a microscope, enclosed between two 

 bits of talc, fixed in a slider. The colour of the back is 

 brown ; the belly white, but more transparent than in several 

 others of the flounder-kind. 



The sole is reckoned the most delicate of the genus, and 

 much valued. They are caught in the bay of Skeal, and no 

 doubt elsewhere round the Orkneys. 



