8o MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES 



the orange-spotted Plaice {Pleuronectes platessa), No. 123; 

 the Pole, or Long Flounder (P. cynoglossus), No. 134 ; 

 the Dab (P. limanda), No. 135 ; and the common Flounder 

 (P. flesus), No. 136, a similar spine is more or less con- 

 spicuously developed, while in the remaining member of 

 the same genus, the Smear Dab (P.microcephahts), No. 133, 

 it is altogether absent.* 



Of the genus Solea, including the various species of Soles, 

 there are four distinct British forms. These are the common 

 Sole {Solea vulgaris), No. 137, so highly esteemed for the 



fig. 18. — plaice {Pleuronectes platessa). 



table. The yellow-coloured Lemon Sole (Solea lascai'is), 

 No. 138, an inferior fish, often substituted for ordinary 

 soles since these have become so scarce, in a great measure 

 through the wholesale destruction of the young fry by machine 

 trawling, and the use of fine meshed nets during the spring 

 months of the year. The Variegated Sole (S. variegata), 

 No. 139, is a smaller and rarer form, remarkable for the 



* No special use has hitherto been apparently assigned to this 

 anteriorly directed anal spur ; possibly it may be utilised in some way 

 like the bony accessory organs of the Shark during the congress of the 

 sexes — while in the case of a large fish like the Holibut it might sub- 

 serve as a formidable offensive weapon. 



