Till: IIAI.IItl T: COMMON NAMES. ]<H 



claimed that Halibut li.nl been taken in (lit- south of Ireland the Turlmt was the species actually 

 referred to. 



Halibut" and I lolihiit r are words wliich arc as old as (lit- English language. In Germany 

 it is called "lleilbntt" or "Ileiligcbutf; in Sweden, " Hallcfisk" or ' Halleflundra," while in 

 Holland the name is "Hcilbot.'' 



In studying tin-so names it should be borne in mind that "but" or "bott" is another word for 

 a tloiindcr or il.it tish, and that the English, Dutch, German, and Scandinavian prefixes to either 

 this word or the equivalent word Flounder are presumably of the same meaning. A false 

 derivation has been imagined for the name, which is exemplified in the German word "Ileilige- 

 butt" just mentioned, ami also in the English orthography, which is sometimes encountered 

 Holylmt." This is without foundation, for the Halibut has never been mentioned more than any 

 other specii-s of tllat tish, and the derivation is as fanciful as the New England one of " Haul n- 

 boat," which our fishermen have frequently assured me was the proper name, referring to the size 

 and strength of the fish. The true derivation of the word is best understood by a study of its 

 Scandinavian names, from which it appears that the prefix has reference simply to the holes or 

 deep places at sea in which the fish is found, and that the name simply means "a deep-sea fish," 

 or " a deep sea flounder." The name " Fle"tan " which a species bears in Fnnice is not distinctive, 

 the tish being almost unknown in that country. 



DISI iMiiinoN IN HIE NORTHWKSTEKN ATLANTIC. The general distribution of the Halibut 

 having been sketched in outline, it seems appropriate to discuss more fully the range and abun- 

 dance of the fish upon the coast of North America, where they are sought by American fishing 

 vessels, and in this discussion some of the facts already briefly stated will necessarily be repeated 

 in part or at length. Halibut are token abundantly on Holsteinborg Bank, at the southern entrance 

 to Davis Strait, latitude 67 north and longitude 54 to 56 west, where several Gloucester 

 schooners have in past years obtained large cargoes of salted fish. In Etzel's "Gronland." the 

 materials for which were largely derived from Kink's "Gronlaud geographisk og stalistisk 

 I '.c ->k re vet," published in 1857, the distribution of the species in this region is quite fully discussed. 

 It is there stated that Halibut are taken chiefly in the southern part of North Greenland, and 

 especially on the shoals among the islands in the district of Egedesminde, especially about Agto, 

 l.'iskol, and Ikerasak, in latitude 68, and somewhat less near Disko, in latitude 70. They are 

 captured most abundantly in the spring and fall, when the Greenlanders take many in these 

 localities. They are even taken, at greater depths, as far north as Omenak, in latitude 71. In a 

 later work, however, Rink asserts that " the Netarnak or larger Halibut is found on the banks, as 

 well as in different places outside the islands, up to 70 north latitude, in depths of from thirty to 

 fifty fathoms." 1 



In the same later work Rink remarks that Halibut are plentiful in the fall about Egedesmiude, 

 especially about Agto, the southernmost outpost of North Greenland. 2 



Regarding the occurrence of Halibut in South Greenland, Etzel goes on to state that in July 

 and August they are takeu'on the outer coast and among the islands at depths of thirty to fifty 

 fathoms, while in winter they frequent deeper regions and are but seldom seen, chiefly on the cod- 



1 BROWN. KIIIIKKT: Danish Greenland | i! IVopli- mid its Products | By | Henry Kink | Knight of the Order of 

 Dannebrofj | Director of the Royal Greenland Hoard of Trade | Formerly Inspector of South Greenland | Anther of Tnl.-t* 

 and Traditions of the Eskimoes, etc | (Cut of modal.) | Edited by | Dr. Robert Brown, F. L. S. F. R. G. 8. | Author of 

 The Ha.-.-, ..( Mankind. .-!. | With Illustrations by the Eskimo, and a Map | Henry 8. King &. Co., London | 1877. 

 8vo, pp. xvii. ti!- 1 , li! plates, and a map on p. 1 (p. 134). 



RINK: Op. cil., pp.:<4U,341. 



