SOLE. 
of the length of the head. The tin begins in front of 
the upper eye, almost at the tip of the snout, and ex- 
tends to the base of the caudal tin. It usually contains 
from 72 to 84 rays, all branched and recurved, with 
the tips lying within or only just outside the tin-mem- 
brane and curved towards the blind side. The anal tin 
is of the same shape as the dorsal, begins below and 
somewhat in front of the insertion of the pectoral tins, 
ends below the termination of the dorsal tin, and usu- 
ally contains from 60 to 67 rays, which resemble those 
of the dorsal tin. The pectoral tins are oval, narrow 
and small, the length of the base being about 1 / i — V 3 
of that of the tin. They contain from 7 to 9 rays, the 
uppermost ray being simple, the others branched. The 
ventral tins are still smaller, and usually contain 5 rays, 
all of which are branched, the first and last very in- 
distinctly, and close to each other at the base. The 
rounded caudal fin, the length of which measures about 
7 10 - — Vg of that of the body, is made up of 14 branched 
rays and two or three simple, supporting rays on 
each side. 
The colour of the eye side is brown, marbled with 
dark grayish brown. The fins are somewhat lighter, 
but the outer half of the pectoral fin on this side is 
dark, almost black. The scales are black at the margin, 
apparently dividing the body into squares. The blind 
side is white, seldom spotted with brown, but almost 
always with a large brown spot near the caudal fin. 
The white colour reddens, however, after the death of 
the fish. Iris dark, brassy yellow. Pupil green, but 
tinged with blue after death. O 11 the strength of in- 
formation given him by the fishermen of Bohuslan, Holl- 
berg distinguished between two colour-varieties, the 
brown Rock Sole (bergtungcm) and the greenish Sand 
Sole ( sandtungan ); but Ekstrom pointed out® that the 
difference in colour probably arises from the nature of 
the sea-bottom. Reversed Soles, with the eyes on the 
left side, are of frequent occurrence on the English coast 
according to Yarrell and Day; and the latter writer 
makes the same statement with regard to double Soles, 
which are coloured on both sides of the body. 
The abdominal cavity proper is extremely short in 
the Sole, its length being about Vs that of the head or 
about 9 % of that of the body. On each side of the 
haemal and interhaemal spines of the anal fin, however, 
the abdominal cavity is secondarily elongated, partly, as 
in most of the Flatfishes, to receive the long organs of 
“ Gbgs Vet., Vitt. Hand]., Ny Tidsfoljd, Haftet I, p. 24. 
generation, and partly to make room for the intestine and 
the kidneys. In two females we find the posterior ends 
of the ovaries situated at about the beginning of the last 
third of the length of the body. The testes of the males 
examined at the same time of year, in January, occupy 
the anterior part of the secondary abdominal cavities, 
and have the appearance of round, flattened glands, of a 
longitudinal diameter about equal to the length of the 
ventral fins. The liver occupies the entire left side of the 
abdominal cavity proper, and at the top surrounds the 
oesophagus and its immediate continuation, the stomach, 
even on the right side. The pylorus, which is without 
appendages, lies to the right of the haemal spines of the 
1st, 2nd and 3rd caudal vertebrae, about half-way up the 
abdominal cavity. From this point the intestine forms 
an abrupt bend forwards and downwards to the left side 
of the rectum, just above the vent, and then turns sharply 
to the right, upwards and backwards, in a coil that 
passes into the secondary abdominal cavity on the right 
side and there extends back for a distance which may 
sometimes be no more than 1 / 7 of the total length of the 
body, but occasionally as much as 1 / 3 thereof. The re- 
turning part of this coil, in a forward direction, runs 
along the lower margin of the secondary abdominal ca- 
vity, almost to the beginning of the anal fin. At this 
point the intestine again bends sharply upwards and 
backwards to form a coil lying on the inner side and to 
the right of the former coil, and returning by means of 
its upper part in a forward direction to the rectum, 
which turns down to the vent. The gall-bladder, which 
is fairly large, lies at the top of the abdominal cavity 
proper, on the right side; and just behind and below this 
bladder lies the spleen, which is of about the same size, 
between the liver and the coils of the intestine. The 
kidneys lie at the top of the anterior part of the second- 
ary abdominal cavity on the blind side, and present the 
appearance of a large, thick and oblong, dark-coloured, 
glandular body. The peritoneum is black on the eye side. 
This is also the case with the whole of the inner side of 
the wall of the gill cavity, with the exception of the hind 
margin, which is white, at least on the blind side. The 
cavity of the mouth and the blind side of the perito- 
neum are white. 
The Sole (Sw. tunga = tongue) is generally known 
in Bohuslan as sula ( sola ), a name which in sound and 
meaning represents the Latin solea. It is fairly common 
in the Skager Rack along the coast of Bohuslan, and even 
