PLEURONEOTID^. 35 



the eyes and of a very dark brown colour almost black on botb sides. Newman 

 (1. 0. p. 4914) continues tbat it is a favourite trick of the iisher boys to cut a notch in 

 the place indicated when they catch a flounder too small to be saleable. As the 

 notch heals the edges recede, so the dorsal fin appears to commence further back 

 than is normally the case. Whether this is the explanation of all such varieties 

 is questionable, as it may be due to an arrest of development as observed in 

 the plaice, turbot, &c. Thompson (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 60) refers to the 

 malformed head of one resembling Yarrell's brill. 



Names. — Flounder and mud-flounder: flounder lantern, Cornwall: fresh-water 

 fleuk and bigger fleule, Moray Firth : matjock fleuk, Edinburgh : fleulc, Northumber- 

 land, also flewke and fluok : butt, Yarmouth : sea bague, Isle of Man (Crellin) : 

 black hack, Belfast Bay. De Bat, Dutch. Le Flet commun, French. 



Habits. — It is found round our coasts ascending rivers to far above tidal 

 influence, and is able to live in very impure water. 



There is not much to say of its habits. Its nsbme flounder has been asserted to 

 be derived from the Swedish word Flundra, denoting its swimming close to the 

 ground. Here it buries itself in the sand or soil by working down first one side 

 of the body and then the other, and thus its back becomes covered, while its 

 elevated eyes and mouth remain clear for the purpose of seeing and capturing its 

 prey. In some rivers it is found among stones, or on the side of sandy banks in 

 m.id-stream ; but muddy holes are reputed not to be the places where it usually 

 resorts. It will wriggle itself up the sides of posts when under the water, as 

 may be seen any day at the Westminster Aquarium, and it retains its hold by 

 means of its vertical fins. It is a greedy and voracious feeder, eating worms, 

 slugs, crabs, young fish, and animal substances. Thompson found in one he 

 examined at Belfast, the remains of Bissoa ulvce, and Johnston off Berwickshire 

 obtained from them Pecten obsoletus. 



That this fish ascends into fresh water is very certain. If we turn to 

 Belonius, De Aquatilibus, published in 1553, we find the flounder described as 

 Passer fluviatilis, vulgo flesus. It is said by Bloch and others that this name 

 was given owing to its colour being similar to that of a sparrow, and because it 

 inhabited rivers. The flounder is found in the sea and at the mouths of all the 

 larger rivers round our coasts, and is common in the North Sea and Baltic. 

 Donovan observed that it inhabits both salt and fresh waters : Montagu that it is 

 taken in the Avon to within three miles of Bath : Yarrell that it exists in the 

 Thames as high as Sunbury : Parnell that it ascends rivers to a considerable 

 distance, particularly when the waters are discoloured and increased in size by 

 heavy rains. Personally I have a recollection of taking flounders with a worm, 

 about thirty years since, from the Severn at Shrewsbury, a little above the 

 English Bridge. Mr. Henry Shaw, the well-known naturalist of that town, 

 observes : " Flounders were caught thirty-five or forty years ago about Shrewsbury, 

 and a long way above, in considerable numbers : but since the weirs about 

 Worcester and Gloucester have been made, their ascent has been stopped. The 

 Peplows (fishermen) used to lay what they termed sprigtail lines for them, in 

 the early spring months, on the sandy places they frequented. This sprigtail 

 consisted of a crooked pin with a double bend, having the form of two knees ; to 

 this was affixed about four horse hairs, and baited with part of a worm. The 

 flounder swallowed it, and, as soon as he began to pull, the pin became crosswise. 

 They used to employ two to three hundred at a time on a long line, and lay them 

 at night time." Were the weirs on the Severn destroyed, they would immediately 

 remount that river at least to as high as Shrewsbury. 



Means of capture. — Low observes that in the shallower parts of the loch of 

 Stenness he has seen vast numbers taken with a seine net. Thompson mentions 

 having observed a fisherman at the mouth of the Bann using an implement as 

 follows : — it was in the form of two sides of a garden reel with a spike which 

 was stuck into the ground : to this about forty yards of line were attached, having 

 a very heavy sinker at its extremity, and hooks along its whole length, which 

 were baited with pieces of crab. By flinging out the sinker the line became 

 carried into the water its entire length. 



3* 



