480 THe COD. 
The colour of the Turbot is brown of different shades on one side, usuallv 
the left, and the whole of that side is spottea with little round bony tubercle.. 
which may be found in the skin after boiling. The size of this fish is 
extremely variable. The average weight is six or seven pounds, but Turbots 
are often taken ot far greater dimensions. The largest specimen of which 
an authentic notice is preserved was taken near Fiymouth in the year 1730, 
and weighed seventy pounds. . 
THE PLAICE is well known by the bright red spots which are scattered 
over its dark side. I have caught numbers of Plaice, some measuring six or 
seven inches in length, by merely wading into the muddy sand, holding them 
down with the feet, and picking them out with the hands, Their terrified 
wriggle.is easily felt by the bare feet, as the fishes find:themselves pressed 
into the sand. whither they had fled for refuge, and: by.a- little dexterous 
management they may be captured by inserting the fingers under the foot, 
seizing them firmly across the body. 
The colour of the Plaice is light brown, variegated with a number of bright 
red spots upon the body and the dorsal.and anal fins. When young, the 
Plaice has often a dark spot in the centre of each red mark. 
THE FLOUNDER, MAYOCK FLEUK, or BUT, is quite as common as the 
plaice, and 1s found ia salt, brackish, or fresh water, sometimes living in the 
sea, sorhetimes inhabiting the mouths of rivers, and sometimes passing up 
the stream for many miles. 
In former days the Flounder has been known to ascend the Thames as 
high as Hampton 
Court, and has there 
been observed actively 
chasing the minnows 
and driving them into 
shallow water:: I have 
often» taken small 
Flounders in the 
Thames just above 
Erith. 
THE well known 
COD-FISH is a native 
of many seas, and in 
some localities is found 
in countless legions. 
This most useful fish 
is captured in vast 
numbers at certain sea- 
sons of the year, and is 
always taken with the 
hook’ and ‘line. The 
lines are of two de- 
coD.—(Gades morrhua.) scriptions, namely, the 
long lines to which a 
great number of short lines are attached, and the simple hand-lines which 
are held by the fishermen. The long lines sometimes run to an extraordinary 
length, and shorter lines, technically called snoods; are affixed to the long line 
at definite distances. 
To the end of each snood is attached a baited hook, and as the sharp teeth 
of the fish might sever a single line, the portion of the snood which is near 
the hook is composed of a number of separate threads fastened loosely 
together, so as to permit the teeth to pass between the strands. At each end 
