40 



esteemed as an article of food, and, on account of its rarity, it has, 

 until lately, commanded a high price. The individual above men- 

 tioned was retailed at fift}'' cents per pound. 



A schooner has recently been fitted up expressly for the purpose of 

 bringing fresh halibut, packed in ice, from Puget Sound, or its 

 vicinity, to San Francisco. The trip down occupies about four days, 

 and the fish, entire, with the exception of the viscera, arrive in 

 perfectly good condition. Two trips have been taken this year, and 

 halibut has been retailed at from ten to fifteen cents per pound. The 

 three largest halibut taken weighed respectively 180, 190, and 220 

 pounds, and their weight with the viscera would probably be about 

 one-fifth more. The individual weighing 190 pounds measured 7' 1" 

 in total length, and had three or four rows of teeth in the front of 

 each jaw. 



PsettichtJiys melanostidus, Girard, Sole. — As most of the fishermen 

 and fishmongers of San Francisco and its neighborhood are Europe- 

 ans, principally Italians and other Mediterranean peoples, with a 

 sprinkling of English and New Englanders, they have given to such 

 fishes as they have thought worthy of a vernacular title names 

 which properly belong to species found in the Mediterranean and 

 Atlantic, and frequently, but distantly, related to their Pacific name- 

 sakes. In pursuance of this rule, the name of " sole " is applied to 

 several species brought to the markets of San Francisco, and among 

 these the most common is the one named above. It does not appear, 

 so far as I have been able to ascertain, to be caught in any great 

 quantity within the Bay of San Francisco, but is usually taken out- 

 side the heads and at the Farallone Islands. The greater portion of 

 those sold in tlie markets are about ten inches in length, but some 

 attain a length of eighteen inches or even more. This species may 

 be readily distinguished from all the other flat-fishes of our coast by 

 the form of the dorsal fin, the first rays of winch, situated on the top 

 of the head, are higher than those immediately succeeding them, 

 and by the dark gray color, produced by black spots, just large 

 enough to be recognized as such by the naked eye, upon a ground of 

 a lighter tint. These black spots are not conspicuous hi individuals 

 just taken from the water, which are of a more uniform and far 

 lighter color, but become so after a few hours exposure to the air. 

 The interorbital space varies in width, apparently increasing with 

 age, though not always in proportion to the size of the individual. 

 The number of rays in the dorsal and anal fins is, as is not unusual 

 among long-finned fishes, subject to considerable variation, the num- 

 ber of dorsal rays ranging from seventy-eight to eighty-eight and 

 that of the anal rays from fifty-eight to sixty-two. The proportions 

 of the body also vary considerably, some being much narrower than 

 others, but the species is always more elongated than Hippoglossides 

 jordani, with which it is often confounded. The scales are not 

 smooth, as described by Girard, but ciliate upon their free margins ; 

 and there is also running along, close to and parallel with the dorsal 

 outline of the anterior part of the body, a second or " accessory " 

 lateral line, a feature which is repeated in several of the small- 

 mouthed flounders. In the stomach of a specimen seven and a 

 quarter inches long were the half-digested remains of two anchovies 

 {Engraulis ring ens). 



Hippoglossoides jordani (nov. sp.). Sole — This species is tolerably 

 common in the markets of San Francisco, but appears to have hith- 



