THE FLAT-FISH FAMILY 233 



Mr. Holt's investigations, a few specimens 2h to 4^ inches were 

 taken in April and May in the shrimp shove-net and horse-trawl ; 

 these could not be the brood of the year, but belonged to that of 

 the preceding year. Older specimens, five to twelve inches long, 

 were taken by the shrimp trawlers. 



Professor Mcintosh mentions that the food of the young 

 flounders in the period of transformation consists of young 

 Gainniari (sandhoppers) and similar crustaceans. 



The Witch i^Pleuroncctes cynoglossiis). 



DistingiiisJiiiig characters. — Head and mouth smaller than in 

 the plaice, eyes rather larger. Body elongated and regularly 

 oval in outline : very thin and flat. No curve in the lateral line 

 above the pectoral fin. Teeth in a single row : points rather 

 blunt. The dorsal and ventral fin with more numerous rays 

 than in any other British species of Pleuronectcs: 102 to 115 in 

 the dorsal, 86 to 97 in the ventral. Scales feebly spinous 

 on the upper side, smooth (cycloid) on the lower. Colour on 

 the upper side pale brown without distinct markings : lower side 

 with some pigment all over giving it a slightly smoky appear- 

 ance. 



N^avies. — On the shores of the Firth of Forth, and on the east 

 coast of England commonly known as the witch, a name which 

 is usually spelt whitches in newspaper reports. It is also called 

 the craig fluke, and witch sole in Scotland. It has been 

 called the pole dab, pole flounder, and long flounder by English 

 naturalists. In Dublin it is called the white sole. 



Habitat. — Is confined to the North Atlantic, extending from 

 the Bay of Biscay to the north coast of Europe, and on the west 

 side from Iceland and Greenland to Cape Cod. Around the 

 shores of the British Isles, it is rare in the English Channel, 

 fairly abundant in the North Sea, off the west coast of Ireland 

 and Scotland, off the south coast of Ireland, and in the Irish 

 Sea. It is a deep water fish, scarcely ever taken at depths less 

 than 20 fathoms, and ranging to very considerable depths, the 

 greatest at which its capture is recorded being 732 fathoms off 

 the south west of Ireland. Mr. Bourne took one at 200 fathoms, 

 and eight at 70 fathoms. In the lochs of the west coast of 



