muller’s top-knot. 
203 
Muller’s Top-knot, Pleuronectes hirtus, Mull., 
Rhombus — Yarrell, 
Has been taken on the East coast. 
As noticed in the Zool. Proc. 1835, p. 81, I procured, on the 25th March that 
year, a recent specimen of this fish (6§ inches in length), which was taken at 
Ardglass, County Down, where it must be very rare, being quite unknown to 
the fishermen. 
The following more lengthened notice of this individual was published in the 
Zool. Proc. for 1837. 
“ Pleuronectes hirtus , Mull. Muller’s Top-knot. — If not inconsistent with the 
brevity characteristic of the ‘ Zoological Proceedings,’ I would remark that the 
fish which I exhibited at the meeting of this Society, on June 9th, 1835, under 
the name of £ Pleuronectes punctatus, Penn.,’ is identical with the ‘ P. hirtus. 
Mull.,’ of Mr. Jenyns’s Manual of the British Vertebrata, and the ‘Rhombus 
hirtus ’ of Mr. Yarrell’s British Fishes, a circumstance which reference to the 
synonyma of this species might indeed indicate, but I am induced to notice the 
subject on account of the specific name ‘ punctatus ’ being applied in both works 
to a nearly allied species. 
“ My specimen, critically examined when recent, exhibited the following cha- 
racters, which are unnoticed in the description of P. hirtus, given in the above- 
mentioned works. 
“ P. fin, which is quite perfect, on the upper side 9| lines long, and containing 
6 rays ; on the under side 6§ lines long, and having 12 rays. Lateral line on the 
under side less strongly marked than on the upper, and considerably less curved 
towards its origin. A bright silver spot, two lines in diameter, at the base of the 
P. fin on the upper side ; irides silvery, clouded with brown : they are described 
as sea-green by Hanmer (Penn. Brit. Zool., vol. iii. p. 323, ed. 1812). It is in 
allusion to this individual, which I had the pleasure of showing Mr. Yarrell, when 
in London in June, 1835, that he remarks, ‘ I have a record of one [Rhombus 
hirtus ] that was caught on the coast of the County of Down in Ireland.’ Brit. 
Fish. vol. ii. p. 245.’ — Zool. Proc., 1837. 
On 30th September, 1842, Dr. Ball obtained one of these fishes 7f 
inches in length, on Kingston Pier, where it had just been captured by a 
boy, from whose “ string of fishes ” he selected it. Dr. Ball sent me an 
accurate drawing of the specimen, accompanied by the following note : 
“ The dorsal and anal fins are almost continuous, being interrupted only by 
the mouth; they pass under the tail, and are orange so far as they are shaded by 
the tail, where they are in apposition.” 
Two more specimens have been obtained in Dublin, one by the late 
Surgeon Carmichael, and one by Robert Warren, Esq., both sent to the 
Dublin University Museum. 
The Whiff,* Pleuronectes Megastoma , Don., 
Rhombus — Yarrell, 
Is of occasional occurrence from North to South along the eastern line 
of coast. From the coasts of Down and Antrim single individuals are 
brought with other Pleuronectidce to Belfast market. They are taken at 
all seasons. f Dr. R. Ball has obtained specimens at Dublin and Youghal. 
The four largest which have come under my inspection, or have been 
* Called “ she sole” in Belfast market; “ox sole,” and also “white sole,” 
in Dublin market. 
fi A small basket of fish taken about Newcastle (County Down) and brought 
to Belfast on 2nd Sept., 1843, contained six specimens of the whiff, five of which 
were about 2 feet in length. 
