FLO UND ER-F I SH ES . 
377 
the North Sea are made chiefly in the trawl. The flesh 
is firm, white, and of good flavour. In this respect 
the Sole ranks beside, in the opinion of many above, 
the Turbot; but just as the Turbot must be boiled, the 
Sole, to retain its boasted flavour, must be eaten fried. 
(Ekstrom, Smitt.) 
Subfamily PLEURONECTIN A. 
Snout not elongated; the lower jaw most prominent. Mouth small and oblique, the gape slightly curved at the 
sides. Jaw-teeth fewer and smaller on the eye side than on the blind side. Ventral fins situated one on each 
side of the ventral margin , their rays close together at the base. Eyes large or at least middle-sized. Pseudo- 
branchice well-developed. Gill-rakers small or middle-sized, and scattered 0 . 
The Flatfishes commonest in our waters, grouped 
round the Flounders proper, range themselves in this 
subfamily. Only three of Gunther’s genera ( Pleur o - 
nectes, Parophrys and Psammodiscus), containing 30 
species according to his Catalogue, can be referred to 
it, all of them, so far as their locality is known, be- 
longing to the temperate and cold parts of the oceans 
of the Northern Hemisphere, and at least one of them, 
the Pole ( Pleuronectes cynoglossus), with a range ex- 
tending from the littoral zone to a depth of about 
700 fathoms. The geographical range of several spe- 
cies also embraces the whole of the Northern Hemi- 
sphere. When we reflect too that these fishes also make 
their way into fresh water, and can thus sustain life 
under circumstances of the most opposite nature, we 
may reasonably expect here to find the explanation of 
the great variability of the characters which has given 
birth to the distinction of species, in cases where we 
should probably speak only of local varieties of one 
single species. This increase in the number of the spe- 
cies has been accompanied by a tendency to establish 
more genera in the subfamily. But Gunther remarks 6 , 
not without reason, that “if we were to attribute to 
some of the characters the same (generic) value as in 
other Pleur onectidce, we should be obliged to establish 
a genus for almost every species, and to separate fishes 
which evidently form one natural group.” We easily 
find, however, that the distinctions between some of the 
species are of very different nature from the distinctions 
between others. Even in the Scandinavian fauna, which 
contains only five species of this subfamily, we may 
distinguish in this manner between at least two differ- 
ent groups of species, the one, with its numerous ver- 
tebrae and fin-rays and more Sole-like body, indicating 
a transition to the preceding subfamily, and the other 
containing the most typical Flounders, the Swedish 
“ skeiddor.” There thus seems to be every reason to 
recognise this difference as subgeneric. 
Genus PLEURONECTES. 
Jaw-teeth of moderate size, set in one or two rows, pointed or broad. No palatine or vomerine teeth. 
These fishes, which the ancient Greeks called ptjTzcu, 
and the Romans passeres c , were ranged by Artedi in 
the genus Pleuronectes' 1 . In his writings, however, as 
in those of Linnveus and their immediate sucessors, this 
genus corresponded to the modern family Pleur onectidce. 
The limitation which is generally given to the genus 
at the present day, was proposed by Gunther", who 
adopted BleekerV suggestion, and separated from the 
a In the genus Psammodiscus, however, according to Gunther, the gill-rakers are close-set. 
h Cat., 1. c., p. 438. 
c “A colore passerum avium, nam parte supina albicant, prona fusci sunt et terrei coloris, instar passerum avium,” Rondf.let: De Pise.., 
lib. XI, cap. VIII. 
d Ttlevgov, side; v'rp.Tiqc, , swimmer. 
e Cat., 1. c. 
f Versl., Mcdedeel. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 13 Deel. (1862), p. 429. 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
48 
