SUB-BRACHIAN MALACOPTERYGII. 159 



whither they proceed in June in schooners of fifty 

 to one hundred and twenty tons : they scatter them- 

 selves in the numerous uninhabited harbours of that 

 desolate shore, split and salt the fish on board, 

 but dry it on the beach, and return with their cargo 

 about October. The Labrador fish is much smaller 

 And thinner, and obtains only an inferior price ; it 

 is scarcely saleable at any other than Italian mar- 

 kets. Of late years, the Newfoundlanders have 

 found formidable rivals in the French, Americans, 

 and Norwegians, the last of whom dry their fish 

 without salt. The annual produce of our New- 

 foundland fishery may be estimated at 600,000 quin- 

 tals of fish, and 3000 tuns of oil. 



We cannot enter into any details of the remaining 

 genera of this serviceable family ; it will be sufficient 

 to remark, that the Whiting, the Pollack, the Hake, 

 the Ling, and other species closely allied to the Cod, 

 are all valuable, though in different degrees. 



FAM. II. PLEURONECTID^:.* 



We have now arrived at the most singular and 

 unparalleled variation of structure to be found in 

 the whole range of vertebrate animals. Hitherto, 

 we have invariably found such a symmetry in form 

 and external organs, that if any animal were di- 

 vided by a straight line down the middle, one side 

 would exactly correspond to the other ; but in the 

 * m.wg, pleura, the side, and writ, nektes, a swimmer. 



