CHAPTER XVIIL 

 OF THE FLOUNDER. 



THIS is one of the most singular and odd-looking productions 

 of the deep, and were it not that they are the common salt 

 water fish of the world, would be viewed with wonder and 

 astonishment. One would suppose, from the flat appearance 

 and formation of their bodies, that nature had been rather 

 scarce of materials when making up this division of the salt 

 water tribe. Besides many places of their abode, too nu- 

 merous to mention, in the old world, they are found in most 

 of salt water stations of the new. They are taken in goodly 

 quantities, and in good condition, in certain seasons, according 

 to Smith and Mitchill, in the vicinity of New-York and Mas- 

 sachusetts, and also to the south and north of these places 

 The former remarks "No family of aquatic beings is charac- 

 terized by so many strong circumstances. The eyes are both 

 on one side, but so arranged as to look upward at an angle of 

 about eighty degrees. The side on which the eyes are fixed 

 is always colored, but the opposite one is quite light or 

 whitish. In fact, their anatomy demonstrates the greatest 

 want of symmetry. Writers remark, among other things 

 14 



