222 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Extraordinary food Where found Description. 



culated for digestion. Some that were purchased 

 by Mr. Collinson, (as his letter inserted in the 

 Phil. Trans, states,) had their bellies hard and 

 prominent, appearing to be filled with rows of 

 some hard substance, which, on being opened, 

 were found to be shell-fish. These, from the 

 bulging of the shells and the intervening inter- 

 stices, gave the intestines somewhat the appear- 

 ance of strings of beads. On further examina- 

 tion, some of them were found nearly dissolved, 

 others partly so, but many of them whole. The 

 most usual food of soles is the spawn and young 

 of other fish. 



These fish are found on all of the British 

 coasts ; but those of the western shores are much 

 superior in size to what are taken, in the north, 

 since they are sometimes found of the weight of 

 six or seven pounds. The principal fishery for 

 them is in Torbay. 



THE HO LI BUT. 



THE bolibut, (of which mention has beert 

 made in our description of tbe turbot,) is, in re- 

 spect to its length, the narrowest of any of this 

 genus except the sole. It is perfectly smooth, 

 and free from spines, either above or below. The 

 color of the upper part is dusky ; beneath, of a 

 pure white. It would be useless to count the 

 rays of the fins of this genus, not only because 



