THE PLAICE II 



with one of its eyes. But a very strange thing 

 indeed happens as soon as it lies down on the mud. 

 The lower eye actually begins to move, and slowly 

 travels round the head, till at last it settles down 

 by the side of the other ! That sounds impossible, 

 doesn't it? It is as wonderful as anything in a 

 fairy story. Yet in every one of these so-called 

 " flat" fishes that strange journey of the eye takes 

 place. 



Next time you pass by a fishmonger's shop just 

 look at the soles or the flounders in his window, 

 and you will see that in every one of these fishes 

 the two eyes are quite close together, above the 

 same corner of the mouth. That is because one 

 of the eyes moved right across the head while the 

 fish was quite small, so that it might be able to 

 use them both as it lay at the bottom of the sea. 



You can sometimes catch flounders by paddling 

 in the sea in places where the bottom is rather 

 muddy. After a little while you are almost sure 

 to feel one of these fishes wriggling underneath 

 your feet, and all that you have to do is to stoop 

 down and seize it. 



PLATE V 

 THE PLAICE 



In its habits the plaice is very much like the 

 flounder, except that it does not like lying upon 

 mud, and always chooses a spot where the bottom 



