THE HALIBUT: COMMON NAMES. 191 



claimed that Halibut had been taken in the south of Ireland the Turbot -was the species actually 

 referred to. 



"Halibut" and "Holibut" are words which are as old as the English language. In Germany 

 it is called "Heilbutt" or "Heiligebutt"; in Sweden, "Btilleflsk" or " Halleflundra," while in 

 Holland the name is "Heilbot." 



In studying these names it should be borne in mind that " bat" 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 "Heilige- 

 butt" just mentioned, and also in the English orthography, which is sometimes encountered 

 "Holybut." This is without foundation, for the Halibut has never been mentioned more than any 

 other species of fllat flsh, and the dferivation is as fanciful as the New England one of " Haul-a- 

 boat," which our fishermen have frequently assured me was the proper name, referring to the size 

 and strength of the fish. The true derivation of the word is best understood by a study of its 

 Scandinavian names, from which it appears that the prefix has reference simply to the holes or 

 deep places at sea in which the flsh is found, and that the name simply means "a deep-sea fish," 

 'r " a deep sea flounder." The name " Platan " which a species bears in France is not distinctive, 

 the fish being ^Imost unknown in that country. 



DiSTRiBTTTiON IN THE NoRTHWESTEEN ATLANTIC. —Ths general distribution of the Halibut 

 having been sketched in outline, it seems appropriate to discuss more fully the range and abun- 

 dance of the flsh upon the coast of North America, where they are sought by American fishing 

 vessels, and in this discussion some of the facts already briefly stated will necessarily be repeated 

 in part or at length. Halibut are taken abundantly on Holsteinborg Bank, at the southern entrance 

 to Davis Strait, latitude 67° north. and longitude 54° to 56° west, where several Gloucester 

 schooners have in .past years obtained large cargoes of salted fish. In Etzel's "Gronland," the 

 materials for which were largely derived from Eink's "Gronland geographisk og statistisk 

 Beskrevet," published in 1857, the distribution of the species in this region is quite fully discussed. 

 It is there stated that Halibut are taken chiefly in the southern part of North Greenland, and 

 especially on the shoals among the islands in the district of Egedesminde, especially about Agto, 

 Eiskol, and Ikerasak, in latitude 68°, and somewhat less. near Disko, in latitude 70°. They are 

 captured most abundantly in the spring and fall, when the Greenlanders take many in these 

 localities. They are even taken, at greater depths, as far north as Omenak, in latitude 71°. In a 

 later work, however, Eink asserts that " the Netamak or larger Halibut is found on the banks, as 

 well as in different places outside the islands, up to 70° north latitude, in depths of from thirty to 

 fifty fathoms." 1 



In the same later work Eink remarks that Halibut are plentiful in the fell about Egedesminde, 

 especially about Agto, the southernmost outpost of North Greenland.^ 



Eegarding the occurrence of Halibut in South Greenland, Etzel goes on to state that in July 

 and August they are taken on the outer coast and among .the islands at depths of thirty to fifty 

 fathoms, while in winter they frequent deeper regions and are but seldom seen, chiefly on the cod- 



'Bkown, Robert: Danish Greenland | its People and its Products | By | Henry Eink | Knight of the* Order of 

 Dannebrog | Director of the Royal Greenland Board of Trade | Formerly Inspector of South Greenland | Author of Tales 

 and Traditions of the Eskimoes, etc | (Cut of medal.) | Edited by | Dr. Robert Brown, F. L. S. F. R. G. S. | Author of 

 The Races of Mankind, etc | With Illustrations by the Eskimo, and a Map | Henry S. King & Co., London | 1877. 

 8vo, pp. xvii, 468, 16 plates, and a map on p. 1 (p. 134). 



"Eink : Op. dt, pp. 340, 341. 



