5238 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



Plaice. 



entirely by trawling. "The principal fishing-ground in England 

 is along the south coast from Sussex to Devonshire, where the 

 soles are much larger and considered otherwise superior to 

 those of the north and east. On the Devonshire coast, the great 

 fishing- station is at Brixham in Torbay, where the boats, using 

 large trawling nets from thirty to thirty-six feet in beam, pro- 

 duce a continual supply. 



The Plaice and Flounder, though far inferior to the sole in 

 quality, are still in great request as articles of food. On the 

 English coast, the plaice are obtained 

 in abundance on all sandy banks and 

 muddy grounds, wherever either lines 

 or trawl-nets can be used. On the 

 sandy flats of the Solway Frith, they 

 are taken by the fishermen and their 

 families wading in the shoal water 

 with bare feet. When a fish is felt, it 

 is pressed by the foot firmly against the bottom until it can 

 be secured by the hand and transferred to the basket. Long 

 practice gives the dexterity which renders this kind of fishing 

 successful. 



In some parts of the North of Europe, where from the rocky 

 nature of the soil the sea is remarkably transparent, plaice and 

 some other flat-fish of large size are taken by dropping down 

 upon them from a boat a doubly-barbed short spear, heavily 

 leaded, to carry it with velocity to the bottom, with a line 

 attached to it, by which the fish, when transfixed, is hauled up. 

 The Flounder, one of the most common of the flat-fish, is 

 found in the sea and near the mouths of large streams all round 

 our coast, particularly where the bottom 

 is soft, whether of sand, clay, or mud. 

 It also ascends the rivers, and is caught 

 in considerable quantities from Deptford 

 to Richmond by Thames fishermen, who, 

 with the assistance of an apprentice, use 

 a net of a particular sort, called a tuck- 

 sean. " One end of this net," says Yarrell, " is fixed for a short 



a ready market for the produce of tbe seaB. In Ireland, however, there has been 

 a diminution of 10,583 boata and 52,127 men within the same time ; a consequence 

 of the famine of 1848, and subsequent emigration. 



The Flounder. 



