333 AMERICAN FISHES. 
Flat Fish are always upon the bottom, feeding chiefly upon minute 
shells, such as Vucuda and Bud/a, upon young crabs, or whatever they can 
find among the stones in the mud. Their mouths are very small, and 
since they would be unable to seize and kill other fish, they never come 
to the surface in pursuit of prey, as do the large-mouthed Flounders. 
They prefer sheltered bays and harbors, and appear to be equally abundant 
on the bottoms of the sand, mud, or rock ; when at rest, they are usually 
partially embedded in the- mud or sand at the bottom. I have observed 
that, when they come to a stop, they always settle themselves by convul- 
sive motions of the fins and body, which has the effect of pushing them 
down into the soft bottom. This species is perhaps a more permanent 
resident of the localities which it inhabits than any other on our coast, unless 
it be the sculpins. There is very little evidence of a tendency to move 
to and from the shore with a change of season. Winter and summer, they 
appear to be equally abundant from New York to the Bay of Chaleur, 
where, in the tide-way of Miramichi River, they are caught in winter 
through holes in the ice. In Labrador they are described as exceedingly 
abundant in summer, but nothing is known of their winter habits. Prof. 
Baird found them scarce in Southern New Jersey in summer, but 
learned that they were very abundant in the bays in winter. Small quan- 
tities are brought to Washington in winter from the mouth of the Chesa- 
peake. 
The spawning season occurs early in spring, in February and March on 
the Connecticut coast, and is thought to be closed by the first part of 
April. Young fish of half an inch in length are found in July in the deep- 
er parts of the bays and sounds, and in August and September, having 
attained the length of one and one-half to five inches, occur in great 
abundance in the coves and along the sandy shores of the Southern New 
England coast, in very shallow water. Their growth is probably rapid, 
though it would seem most likely that the five-inch specimens just referred 
to were eighteen months rather than six months old. The largest that 
have been discovered were fifteen inches long, and would weigh from one 
to one and a half pounds. 
The flesh of the Flat Fish is solid, white, and of excellent flavor, and 
deserves a more general popularity than it has yet attained. It is, and 
has been for the last century, largely consumed in New York in winter. 
Schoepf, writing in 1776, mentions it as occurring in the market in spring ; 
