PLEURONECTID^]. 33 



Means of capture. — Beam trawl ; seine (Montagu) ; hand-lines and deep sea 

 lines, being more easily taken by hooks than any other flat fish. 



Baits. — Marine sandworms and bodies of testaceous molluscs. 



Breeding. — April, May and June. Many as small as If inches long were 

 received from the mouth of the Thames in November, 1880. 



As food. — A high flavoured and excellent fish (Thompson), but if waters are 

 muddy the taste partakes of such ; it is largely eaten among the poor of London 

 and Paris. It is in the best condition from February to April in some places, 

 from August to December in Cornwall. 



Habitat. — From the shores of northern Europe to those of the British Isles, 

 and extending to the coasts of France, being abundant off Brittany and Poitou, 

 but less common in the Gulf of Gascogne. 



It is found on most parts of the British coasts, being tolerably frequent in the 

 Orkneys and Zetland (Baikie) ; abundant at times in the Moray Firth, also pretty 

 frequent off Banff (Edward) ; Aberdeen (Sim) ; not uncommon at St. Andrew's 

 (Mcintosh) ; common in the Edinburgh market (Neill) ; Berwick (Johnston) ; off 

 Yorkshire it is resident, very abundant, and known as the sand-dab at Redcar 

 (Yorkshire Vertebrata) ; Yarmouth, Norfolk (Lowe). It is by no means 

 uncommon along the south coast, especially Devonshire (Montagu), and very 

 common off Brixham and Cornwall. 



In Ireland it is not rare round the coast, and has been recorded from Dublin 

 (Rutty) : Waterford (Smith) : Youghal (Ball) : Galway coast (McCalla) : county 

 Down (Thompson) : Belfast aud Strangford Loughs (Thompson) : while at 

 Portrush, county Antrim, it is the most frequent kind brought up by the trawl, 

 rarely, however, exceeding 12 inches in length (Ogilby). 



The example figured, 10 inches long, was from the south-west coast. It haa 

 been recorded off the British Isles, by Parnell, up to 15 inches in length. 



B. Teeth conical. 



a. Lateral-line with a slight curve anteriorly. 



5. Pleuronectea flesus, Plate CV. 



Passer fluviatilis vulgo flesus, Belon. p. 144 ; Willughby, p. 98, t. F 5 ; Ray, 

 p. 32 ; Rutty, co. Dublin, p. 350. Passeris tertia species, Rondel, xi, c. 10, p. 319 ; 

 Gesner, pp. 666, 782, 788. Pleuronectes, Artedi, Synon. p. 31, no. 2, and Gen. p. 

 17, no. 4, and Spec. no. 4 ; Gronov. Zooph. no. 248. Passer, sp. Klein, Pise. Miss, 

 iv, p. 33, no. 1, t. ii, f. 4, t. vii. f. 1. Flet, Duhamel, ix, p. 273, pi. vii, f. 2. The 

 flounder, Pennant, Brit. Zool. (Ed. 1776) iii, p. 229 (Ed. 1812) iii, p. 305; Low, 

 Faun. Oread, p. 212. 



Pleuronectes flesus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 457 ; Bl. Fische Deuts. p. 39, t. xliv ; 

 Bonn. Ency. Ich. p. 75, t. xl, fig. 159 ; Bl. Schn. p. 146 ; Gmel. Linn. p. 1229 ; 

 Lacep. iv, p. 633 ; Donovan, Brit. Fish, iv, pi. xciv ; Shaw, Gen. Zool. iv, p. 301 ; 

 Turton, Brit. Faun. p. 96 ; Faber, Fische Isl. p. 144, and Isis, 1828, p. 873 ; 

 Ekstr. Fische Morko, p. 247 ; Pallas, Zoog. Rus.-As. iii, p. 422 ; Nilsson, Skan. 

 Faun, iv, p. 618 ; Gronov. ed. Gray, p. 88 ; Giinther, Catal. iv, p. 450 ; Schlegel, 

 Dier. Ned. p. 168, pi. xvi, f. 2 ; Mcintosh, Fish. N. Uist, P. R. S. Edin. v, 1862-66, 

 p. 614 and Fish. St. Androw's, p. 180 ; Collett, p. 146 ; Malm, p. 530 ; Winther, 

 p. 41. 



Platessa flesus, Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 198; Bowdich, Brit. F. W. Fish, no. 25; 

 Jenyns, Man. p. 455 ; Gottsche, Wiegm. Arch. 1835, p. 146 ; Yarrell, Brit. Fish, 

 (ed. 1) ii, p. 215, c. fig. (ed. 2) ii. p. 303 (ed. 3) i, p. 612 ; Parn. Wern. Mem. 

 vii, p. 363, pi. xxxvii; Templeton, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837 (2) i, p. 411 ; Johnston, 

 Berwick. Nat. Club, 1838, i, p. 174 ; Bonap. Pesc. Eur. 48 ; Thompson, Nat. Hist. 

 Ireland, iv, p. 194 ; Siebold, Siisswass. fische Mittleurope, p. 77 ; Kroyer, Dan. 

 Fiske, ii, p. 276, c. fig. ; White, Catal. p. 98 ; H. Malmgren, Wiegm. Arch. 1864, 

 p. 293 ; Blanchard, Poiss. France, p. 267, c fig. 



n 3 



