208 THE FLOUNDER. 



thnt the two sides are unequal, and it is very rare to find the 

 pectoral fins resembling one another. In the branchial mem- 

 brane are five rays ; the body seems compressed, as though 

 pressed between two stones ; the dorsal fin encircles the 

 fish like a ribbon, so that the back is on one side ! The venter, 

 or inside cavity, is quite small, but prolonged into a canal in 

 the side of the tail. There is no air-bladder ; and the skull 

 is the oddest of all crania, in consequence of the arrangement 

 for accommodating both eyes on one side. 



" Notwithstanding the confused manner in which the 

 skeleton is put together, distorted, and twisted in the queer- 

 est form, there is only about the ordinary number of bones, 

 entering into the composition of other fishes. 



"Flounder. (Platessa Vulgaris.) Being without tho 

 swimming-bladder, they naturally keep near the bottom. 

 Indeed, organized, as they obviously are, for looking upward, 

 rather than downward, for their food, as well as the objects 

 they are to avoid. It is quite rapid in its movements, but 

 prefers to remain on the surface of the mud, into which it 

 nestles for concealment, in case of fright." 



Mitchill has the following: " Flounder of New-York. 

 (Pleuronectes dentatus.) With wide, toothed, oblique 

 mouth, and pale brown uniform back. Grows to the size 

 of twenty-four inches long, and twelve broad, in the south 

 bays of Long Island, and weighs five pounds. I have seen 

 him even larger than that. There is considerable variety in 

 his color and spots. Color of the back and fins commonly a 

 pale brown, without lines or spots ; and yet varieties occur, 

 where the spotted appearance is very plain." 



The size of the usual run of this fish, at New-York and 

 Boston, is from five to fifteen inches in length by three to ten 

 in breadth. Like the eel, they lie in the soft mud at the 

 bottom of rivers, near to the docks, lumber piles, bridge 

 spiles, &c., living on muscles, insects, and the spawn of fishes. 



