HALIBUT, FLAT-FISH AND FLOUNDER. 309 
Sweden, ‘‘ Hallefisk’’ or ‘‘ Halleflundra,’’ while in Holland the name is 
“‘ Heilbot.”’ 
In studying these names it should be borne in mind that ‘‘ But ”’ or 
‘¢Bott’’ is another word for a flounder or flat fish, 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 ‘‘ Heiligebutt’’ just mentioned, and also in the English 
orthography which is sometimes encountered, ‘‘ Holybut.’’ This is with- 
out foundation, for the Halibut has never been mentioned more than any 
other species of flat fish, and the derivation is as fanciful as the New Eng- 
land one of ‘‘ Haul-a-boat,’’ which our fishermen have frequently assured 
me is the proper name, referring to the size and the strength of the fish. 
The true derivation of the word is best understood by a study of its Scan- 
dinavian 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 “ Fletan”’ which the species bears in France is not distinctive, 
the fish being almost unknown in that country. 
Half a century ago Halibut were extremely abundant in Massachusetts 
Bay. Elsewhere in this essay are given several instances of their great 
plenty and voracity, as narrated by some of the early fishermen of Cape 
Ann. Of late years, however, few are found except in deep water on the 
off-shore banks. 
The presence of so important a food-fish as the Halibut in America did 
not long escape the observations of the early English explorers. Capt. 
John Smith, in his ‘‘ History of Virginia,’’ wrote: ‘There is a large sized 
fish called Halibut, or Turbut; some are taken so bigg that two men have 
much a doe to hall them into the boate ; but there is such plenty, that the 
fisher men onely eate the heads & finnes, and throw away the bodies; 
such in Paris would yeeld 5. or 6. crownes a peece: and this is no 
discommodity.”’ 
The Halibut is surpassed in size by only three of our eastern species— 
the sword-fish, the tunny, and the tarpum. There is said, by experienced 
fishermen, to be a great difference in the size of the two sexes, the females 
being much the larger; the male is said rarely to exceed fifty pounds in 
weight, and to be, ordinarily, in poor condition and less desirable for 
