28 ANACANTHINI. 



Hablta*. — From Iceland, along the coasts of northern Europe, to the British and 

 French shores : what was believed to be this species was recorded extending 

 in diminished numbers into the Mediterranean, and in 1878 for the first time to 

 the Adriatic (F. Trois, Alti 1st. Venet. (5), iv, 1878, p. 321). 



Found all round our coasts. In the Orkneys and Zetland abundant (Baikie) 

 Moray Firth common, especially during April : Banff (Edward) : Aberdeen (Sim) 

 St. Andrew's (Mcintosh) : Firth of Forth (Parnell) : Berwickshire (Johnston) 

 Yorkshire resident, very common, but Mr. Mudd informs us that it is becoming 

 more scarce, and that it is found in greatest numbers in or near the Dogger Bank 

 (Yorkshire Vertebrata) : at Great Grimsby its diminution is causing alarm to 

 some of the fishermen : Norfolk common (Lowe) : found all along the south coast, 

 the largest said to come from Sussex (Jenyns) : off Mevagissey in Cornwall they 

 swarm in shoals during the autumn (Dunn) and Mr. Cornish observes that those 

 from a hard, close, killas sand are usually good, edible fish : those from a loose 

 gravelly sand are valueless. 



In Ireland it is abundant round the coast ; .to the north it is the most common 

 species of flat-fish. At Belfast an example 12 lb. in weight was taken and sent to 

 the University Museum. 



Although one of these fish, weighing 6 or 7 lb. is a fine example, Donovan and 

 others have recorded it up to 15 lb. weight. 



3. Pleuronectes microcephalus, Plate CII. 



Phombtts Icevis comubicus, Jago in Ray, p. 162, f. 1. Smear Dab, Pennant, 

 Brit. Zool. (ed. 1776), iii, p. 230, pi. xli, (ed. 1812), iii, p. 309, pi. xlvii. Duhaniel, 

 Pech. pt. ii, sect. 9, p. 268, pi. vi, f. 3-4. 



Pleuronectes microcephalus, Donovan, Brit. Fish, ii, pi. xlii ; Turton, Fauna, 

 p. 96 ; Fries, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 173, and Wiegm. Arch. 1840, p. 24 ; 

 Nilss. Skand. Faun, iv, p. 609 ; Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 447 ; Mcintosh, Fish. St. 

 Andrew's, p. 180 ; Steind.. SB. Ak. Wien, lxxx, Abth. i, p. 165 ; Schlegel, Dieren 

 Neder. p. 170, pi. xvi, f. 5 ; Collett, p. 145 ; Malm, p. 40. 



Pleuronectes Icevis, Shaw, Zool. iv, p. 299; Turton, 1. c. p. 96. 



Pleuronectes Quenselii, Holb. Bohusl. Fisk. Goth. Vet. and Vitt. Sosllsk. nya 

 Handl. iv, p. 59, c. fig. 



Pleuronectes auadridens, Fabr. Kongl. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Afhandl. i, p. 39, t. 

 i, f. 10 and 11 ; Faber, Fische Isl. p. 138, and Isis, 1828, p. 884. 



Pleuronectes microstomia, Faber, Isis, 1828, p. 886, and Tids. Nat. v, p. 243 ; 

 Nilss. Prod. Ich. Scand. p. 53. 



Platessa microcejphala, Flem. Brit. An. p. 198 ; Jenyns, Man. p. 457 ; Parnell, 

 Wern. Mem. vii, p. 366, t. xxxviii, and Fish. Firth of Forth, p. 206, t. xxxviii 

 Yarrell, Brit. Fish. (Ed. 1) ii, p. 221, c. fig. (Ed. 2) ii, p. 309 (Ed. 3) i, p. 622 

 Thompson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1835, p. 81, and Nat. Hist. Ireland, iv, p. 196 

 Templeton, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837 (2), i, p. 411 ; Johnston, Berwick. Nat. Club, 

 1838, i, p. 174 ; Kroyer, Fiske Dan. ii, p. 316, c. fig. ; Moreau, Poiss. France, iii, 

 p. 294. 



Pleuronectes cynoglossus, Nilss. Prod. Ich. Scand. p. 53 (not Skand. Fauna). 



Microstomus latidens, Gotts. Wiegm. Arch. 1835, p. 150. 



Cynoglossa microcephala, Bonap. Pesc. Eur. 48. 



Platessa Icevis, White, Catal. p. 99. 



Smear-dab, Couch, Fish. British Isles, iii, p. 187, pi. clxxi. 



B. vii, D. 85-93, P. 10, V. 5-6, A. 70-76, C 15 ; L. 1. 130, Coec. pyl. 4. Vert. 

 13/35. 



Length of head 6j to 6±, of caudal fin 6, height of body 2£ to 3 in the total 

 length. Eyes — the lower slightly in advance of the upper, placed close together, 

 and not 1/2 a diameter from the end of the snout. Jaws of equal length in front : 

 the maxilla not reaching to beneath the front eye. Anterior nostril tubular ; the 

 posterior round and patent. Teeth — conical, rather compressed and blunted, from 



