muller's top-knot. 203 



MuLLEU's Top-knot, Pleuronectes hirtas, Mull., 

 Rhomhus — Yarrell, 



Has been taken on the East coast. 



As noticed in the Zool. Proc. 1835, p. 81, I procured, on the 25th March tliat 

 year, a recent specimen of this fish (6| inches in length), which was taken at 

 Ardglass, County Down, where it must be very rare, being quite imknown to 

 the fishermen. 



The following more lengthened notice of this individual was published in the 

 Zool. Proc. for 1837. 



" Pleuronectes hirtus. Mull. MuUer's Top-knot. — If not inconsistent with the 

 brevity characteristic of the ' Zoological Proceedings,' I would remark that the 

 fish which I exhibited at the meeting of this Society, on June 9th, 1835, under 

 the name of ' Pleuronectes punctatus, Penn.,' is identical with the ' P. hirtus. 

 Mull.,' of Mr. Jenyns's Manual of llie British Vertebrata, and the ' BJtomhus 

 hirtus ' of Mr. Yarrell's British Fishes, a circumstance which reference to the 

 synonyma of this species might indeed indicate, but I am induced to notice the 

 subject on account of the specific name ' punctatus ' being applied in both works 

 to a nearly allied species. 



" My specimen, critically examined when recent, exhibited the following cha- 

 i"acters, which are unnoticed in the description of P. hirtus, given in the above- 

 mentioned works. 



" P. fin, which is quite perfect, on the upper side 9^ lines long, and containing 

 G rays ; on the under side 6| lines long, and having 12 rays. Lateral line on the 

 under side less strongly marked than on the upper, and considerably less curved 

 towards its origin. A bright silver spot, two lines in diameter, at the base of the 

 P. fin on the upper side ; irides silvery, clouded with brown : they are described 

 as sea-green by Hanmer (Penn. Brit. Zool., vol. iil. p. 323, ed. 1812). It is in 

 allusion to this individual, which I had the pleasure of showing Mr. Yarrell, when 

 in London in June, 1835, that he remarks, ' I have a record of one [Pho/iibiis 

 hirtus'] that was caught on the coast of the County of Down in Ireland.' Brit. 

 Fish. vol. ii. p. 245.' — Zool. Proc, 1837. 



On oOth September, 1842, Dr. Ball obtained one of these fishes 7f 

 inches in length, on Kingston Pier, where it had just been captured by a 

 boy, from whose " string of fishes" he selected it. Dr. Ball sent me an 

 accurate drawing of the specimen, accompanied by the following note : 



" The dorsal and anal fins are almost continuous, being interrupted only by 

 the mouth; they pass under the tail, and are orange so far as they are shaded by 

 the tail, where they are in apposition." 



Two more specimens have been obtained in Dublin, one by the late 

 Surgeon Carmichael. and one by Robert Warren, Esq., both sent to the 

 Dublin University Museum. 



The Whiff,* Pleuronectes Megastoma, Don., 

 Rhombus — Yarrell, 



Is of occasional occurrence from North to South along the eastern line 

 of coast. From the coasts of Down and Antrim single individuals are 

 brought with other Pleuronectida to Belfast market. They are taken at 

 all seasons.t Dr. K. Ball has obtained sjjccimens at Dublin and Youghal. 

 The four largest which have come under my inspection, or have been 



* Called " she sole " in Belfast market ; " ox sole," and also " white sole," 

 in Dublin market. 



t A small basket of fish taken about Newcastle (County Down) and brought 

 to Bclfiist on 2nd Sept., 1843, contained six specimens of tlic wjiilf, {{\ii of which 

 were about 2 feet in length. 



