PLEURONECTES. FLOUNDER. 



Generic Character. 



Oculi ambo in eodem latere 

 capitis. 



Corpus compressum, latere 

 altero dorsum, altero ab- 

 domen referente. 



Eyes both on the same side 

 of the head. 



Body compressed, one side 

 representing the back, 

 and the other the abdo- 

 men. 



A HE singular structure of this genus is justly- 

 considered as one of the most curious deviations 

 from the general uniformity or regularity observed 

 by Nature in the external figure of animals, in 

 which (except in a very few instances) both sides of 

 the body are perfectly similar : but in the genus 

 Pleuronectes the animal is so constituted that one 

 side appears to represent the back, and the opposite 

 side the abdomen. They swim laterally, and the 

 eyes are always placed on one side. It is from this 

 circumstance that the division of the species is con- 

 ducted: viz. into those which have the eyes dextrous > 

 or towards the right, when the fish is laid with its 

 coloured side upwards with its abdomen towards 

 the spectator; and sinistrous when the eyes are 

 towards the left in the above situation of the fish. 

 It is said however that instances have sometimes 

 occurred in which this natural situation has been 



