236 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



little or no means of defence, had their colour been placed only 

 above the lateral line on each side, in whatever position they 

 moved their piebald appearance would have rendered them 

 conspicuous objects to all their enemies. When near the 

 ground, they swim slowly, maintaining their horizontal position ; 

 and the smaller pectoral and ventral fins, on the under side, are 

 advantageous where there is so much less room for their action 

 than with the larger fins that are above. When suddenly dis- 

 turbed, they sometimes make a rapid shoot, changing their 

 position from horizontal to vertical; and, if the observer 

 happens to be opposite the white side, they may be seen to pass 

 with the rapidity and flash of a meteor. Soon, however, they 

 sink down again, resuming their previous motionless horizontal 

 position, and are then distinguished with difficulty, owing to 

 their great similarity in colour to the surface on which they 

 rest." 



The number of species of the flat-fishes diminishes as the 

 degrees of northern latitude increase. In this country we 

 have twenty-three species; at the parallel of Jutland there 

 are thirteen ; on the coast of Norway they are reduced to 

 ten ; in Iceland the number is but five, and in Greenland only 

 three. 



Many of them attain a considerable size, particularly the 

 Halibut (Pleuronectes hippoglossus). In April 1828 a speci- 

 men seven feet six inches long and three feet six inches broad 

 was taken off the Isle of Man, and sent to Edinburgh market. 

 Olafsen mentions that he saw one which measured five ells ; and 

 we are told by the Norwegian fishermen that a single halibut 



will sometimes cover a whole skiff- 

 Let us, however, remember that these 

 stories proceed from the country 

 where monstrous krakens and sea- 

 snakes are most frequently seen, and 

 where the mists of the north seem to 



Halibut. 



produce strange delusions of vision. 

 At all events, the halibut is better entitled to the name of 

 maxvmus than its relation fhe Turbot, to which that epithet has 

 been improperly applied by naturalists. The turbot, equally 

 esteemed by the ancients and the moderns for the delicacy of its- 

 flesh, is often confounded in our markets with the halibut, but 



