204 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



winter (Blake-Knox, Zool., 1866, p. 508) ; in 1853 another, 

 5-i- inches long, at Dalkey Sound, in eight or ten fathoms 

 of water, and presented to the Dublin Natural History 

 Society (Kinahan, Zool., 1853, p. 3990). 



In British waters this fish attains to 7 or 8 inches in 

 length. 



GENUS 5. Pleuronectes, Artedi. 



As bait for these fishes on foul ground, lug-worms and 

 pieces of the flesh of the conger or herring are much used. 

 But the majority along the British coasts are obtained by 

 means of the beam-trawl. I shall defer the consideration 

 of this mode of fishing until arriving at the more valuable 

 genus of Solea. 



I. Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa}. 



Names. Plaice, diamond plaice, Sussex, from its lozenge- 

 shaped spots. Plash fleuk, Moray Firth. Page or facq, 

 Anglo-Saxon. De sckol, Dutch. La Plie Franche ou 

 Carrelet, French. 



B. vii., D. 66-77, V. 6, A. 50-57, Vert. J, Caec. pyl. 2 



(3-4). 



Length of head 4^; height of body 2f in the total 

 length. Eyes. On the right side, the lower one-fourth to 

 one-half in advance of the upper, nearly I diameter from the 

 end of the snout, while the two are divided by a narrow 

 smooth ridge. Lower jaw in advance of the upper, with a 

 knob at the symphysis ; the length of the maxilla equals 

 that of the orbit, while it reaches posteriorly to beneath the 

 first third of the eye. Teeth. Compressed and truncated 

 at their summits, 20 to 24 in the upper on the blind side, 

 those on the other side being few and smaller; those in 

 lower jaw similar to those in the upper. Fins. The 



