OSSEOUS FISHES. 
539 
right side. The dorsal fin commences about the mouth, and extends 
up to the’ caudal or terminal fin. The Common Sole, Solea vulgaris 
(Fig. 369), is plentiful in the Channel, along the Atlantic coasts, and 
especially in the Mediterranean. It is brown on the right, and 
whitish on the opposite side. Its pectoral fins are spotted black ; the 
scales rugged and denticulate ; its size seems to vary according to the 
coast it frequents. Off the mouth of the Seine soles are sometimes 
Fig 36U. The Common Sole (Snlea volsrnris). 
taken eighteen. and twenty inches in length. There are several modes 
of taking them, hut for commercial purposes it is taken by the trawl- 
net When the ground-hook is employed it is baited with fragments 
of small fish. Every one knows the delicate flavour of the flesh of the 
sole. According to Lacepede, its flesh may he kept many days, not 
only without corruption, but it acquires even a finer taste. 
The Turbot, Rhombus maximus (Fig. 370), resembles in its general 
form a lozenge, whence its name of rhombus. Its under jaw is more 
advanced than the upper jaw, and is furnished with many rows of 
