PLEURONECTID^E. 41 



In Ireland (Ootober) Dr. Farran found Cardium elongation abundantly, a few 

 Bulla aperta, and a number of Echinocyamus pusillns. (November) Amphidesma 

 Boysii, a Dentalmm, and a few Amphidesma prismatica. (December) 

 Amphidesma prismatica, a Lysteri, an Anomia, and Dcmax trunculus. The sole 

 has been reputed to eat the eggs and fry of other fishes and sea urchins, &c. 



Means of capture. — Generally the trawl. The principal English trawling 

 ground lies from Dover to Devonshire. They may be taken by spillers, but are 

 not commonly captured with hooks : it is suggested that one reason may be that 

 spillers are mostly used by day, whereas the sole is a night feeder. In-shore 

 trawling, shrimping and fine meshed netting during the spring months occasion 

 great injury to the young of these fishes, as do also hose nets set for shrimps. 

 Mr. Welton, of Bridgewater, purchased all the fish taken in two of these nets in 

 one day, and thus obtained 18 cwt. of the fry of soles, plaice, herrings, whiting, &c. 

 Baits. — Major Holland (Sc. Gossip, 1872, p. 261) employs soft- or soldier-crabs, 

 lug- worm, mussel, shrimp and rag-worm, with long gut snoods, but these fish 

 feed mostly at night, and the most favourable time is after a blow, when the 

 water is thick, while a land breeze answers better than a sea breeze. 



Breeding. — They spawn late in the year and during the spring months. I have 

 obtained them in full roe this year up to April 15th. A sole of 1 lb. weight carries 

 about 134,000 eggs (Buckland). 



Hermaphrodites. — Have been recorded by Yarrell. 



Life history. — The very young swim on edge as has been already referred to, 

 but they do not appear to be commonly found so far out at sea as some other 

 species. They are first seen along our south coast about the end of March or 

 commencement of April. 



Diseases. — Buckland mentions having received a sole in which its entire lower 

 surface was studded with hairs from 1/8 to 1/2 an inch in length. On a 

 microscopic examination being made they turned out to be the hairs of the " sea 

 mouse," Aphrodite aculeata. 



Uses. — The skin of the sole was much used, according to Parnell, for fining 

 coffee, being found a good substitute for isinglass : also as a material for artificial 

 baits. 



As food. — The flesh of this fish is white, firm, and of excellent flavour, those 

 from the deepest waters being generally preferred: during the time of breeding, 

 and for a short period subsequently, they are soft and watery. Those on the west 

 coast and to the south are larger as a rule than those towards the north of these 

 islands. Mayhew tells us that London requires annually 97,520 soles, while that 

 market is principally supplied from the Norfolk coast and the English Channel. 



Habitat. — It extends from the seas of Scandinavia and the Baltic southwards, 

 round all the coasts of France, and is found in the Mediterranean. 



It is taken in the Orkneys and Zetland, but is rare (Baikie) : it is not very 

 common off Banff (Edward) : but found off Aberdeen (Sim) : is common in the 

 Moray Firth, but not much sought after : frequent at St. Andrew's (Mcintosh) : 

 sparingly at the moirth of the Firth of Forth (Parnell). Resident and common 

 off Yorkshire. Has once occurred at Goode, in the estuary of the Humber, near 

 the mouth of the Ouse (Yorkshire Vertebrata) : the Great Grimsby fishermen 

 assert that they capture most of their small soles off the Dutch coast. Common 

 in the Norfolk estuary (Lowe) : abundant off the south coast from Sussex to 

 Devonshire, and common off Cornwall. Also found in the Bristol Channel, and 

 generally around Great Britain. 



In Ireland soles occur all round the coast, while Ogilby observes that they are 

 common at Portrush, and Thompson remarks that those in the north vary 

 considerably in form and colour from those more to the south. As to the size it 

 attains Thompson's largest example was 20 inches in length. Mr. Grove, of Charing 

 Cross, received one from Torbay on February 1st, 1882, 24 inches long, and which 

 weighed 6|- lb. A correspondent of the Field alludes to one weighing 1\ lb. 

 captured at Bridgewater, on June 4th, 1881: and casts of a pair from Ireland 

 which weighed together 12 lb. are in the Buckland Museum. Yarrell mentions one 

 26 inches long and very thick, the largest he had ever heard of, which was brought 

 to the Totness market, and weighed 9 lb. 



