PLATE LXXV. 
The whole of the superior surface of this fish is perfectly smooth t» 
the touch, the scales being small, and soft, and the body covered 
with a peculiar sort of mucous. Its colour is dusky brown, most 
commonly inclining to a liver colour, and free from spots : the tint 
of colour is variable, and it has been remarked that in proportion as 
the fish is in poor condition it becomes blackest, or more dusky : tire 
lower surface is uniformly white. The Holibut is of a more elon- 
gated figure than almost any other fish of its genus, and tapers much 
towards the tail, the crescent form of which is a very distinguishing 
criterion of this species. The specimen now before us contains one 
hundred and one rays in the dorsal fin : pectoral fin fourteen : ven- 
tral fin five : anal fin seventy-three ; and tail seventeen. 
