NATURAL HISTORY. 31 
often a very killing combination for pollack or 
mackerel. 
This is one of the commonest and most trouble- 
some of our small sharks, but it is at any Nurse. 
rate prized more than the rest by the fisher- hound 
men, who eat it in many parts where they would 
not touch any of the rest. It is, judged without 
the prejudice that attaches to all its tribe, a hand- 
some fish, growing to alength of 4 or § feet., and not 
unlike the smaller rowhound aforementioned, only 
its spots are larger, fewer and more blurred. This 
fish is particularly common in Bournemouth Bay, 
where I catch a number every summer ; indeed, it 
is essentially a shallow-water fish. 
One of the commonest of our flat-fish, the plaice, 
gives good sport in the late summer and 
autumn, when it has attained to a weight 
of 3 or 4lbs., and will take the lug or mussel bait 
freely. “Like the dab aforementioned, from which 
it may be distinguished by the red spots that cover 
the body and fins, as well as by the bony ridge on 
the head, this fish spends its life in the sand. The 
mouth is small and situate at the end of the snout, 
and the teeth will be found to be more strongly 
developed on the left, or blind, side. 
Plaice 
One of the amateur’s favourite fish, so far as 
sport is concerned, though of little or no use 
for the table and quick to lose its freshness, 
the pollack, may be distinguished from the rest of 
the cod family by the combined absence of barbule, 
projecting lower jaw and dark colouring. It is a 
handsome fish, being taken of a weight of over 2olks., 
Pollack 
