386 MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 



But Shaw has made the discrimination extremely intricate, or unin- 

 telligible. He writes, that flounders " have the eyes dextrous, or 

 toward the right, when the fish is laid with its coloured side upward, 

 and with its abdomen toward the spectator ; and sinistrous, when 

 the eyes are toward the left, in the above situation of the fish." He 

 has made a confused piece of work of this genus. Dextrous and sinis- 

 trous are mingled together ; and there is a want of perspicuity through- 

 out. For example, Bloch makes the turbot a sinistrous fish, and figures 

 him so ; but Shaw, who agrees with him in the principle, figures the 

 same turbot as having the eyes on the right. To avoid this confusion, 

 we must revert to Bloch's easy and practical rule. 



* With eyes toward the right. 



1. Holibut. (Pleuronectes hippoglossus.) This very large and excel- 

 lent fish is brought plentifully to New-York alive, in the spring, and is 

 distinguished by having an elongated smooth body, soft and mucila- 

 ginous fins, white beneath, and brown above. Grows to the size of 

 three hundred pounds, and more. Is brought to us in smacks. Here 

 he is regularly butchered, cut up and exhibited for sale, piece-meal. 

 The head, fins, and flap are reckoned the most savoury parts. Is an 

 exquisite fish for the table. He is so well described already, and so 

 easily distinguishable from every other species, that a circumstantial 

 account of him is deemed unnecessary. 



Is brought to the New- York market as early in the season as the 

 arrival of the shad and alewife, or herring ; that is, about the end of 

 March or beginning of April. They take him on the shoals of Nan- 

 tucket, and in the tracts of ocean to the northward and eastward. He 

 is caught sometimes as far south as Sandy-Hook, before the water loses 

 its wintry coldness. As the warmth increases, the holibut changes his 

 ground ; for they suppose the summer temperature unfavourable to 

 him. Therefore, at that season he migrates to the banks of Nova Scotia 



