1»LATE LXIf. 
ever, exceeding a pound, or a pound and a half in weight- Aboof 
three years ago, a bed of very large Soles was however found at i 
distance from land in the Yorkshire sea : they were remarkably 
but soft, and of an indifferent flavour. Soles of an excellent quality 
are found on the sandy shores of the Severn, and other coasts of 
Wales, but tliey are generally of the middle size. The Bristol market 
is supplied chiefly with the Soles caught in the Severn sea. Thames 
Soles are very delicate ; the Slips are only those of a small size, seldotrt 
exceeding five or six inches in the length, and differing a little in the 
elongated form of the outline, a variation to which Soles are often 
liable. The excellent flavour of the Sole has obtained it the name of 
JPerdix de Mer with the French. 
This is a general inhabitant of various parts of the world, being 
found in the North, and Baltic seas : in the Mediterranean, and also 
those of both North, and South America. It delights in a fin® 
shallow, sandy bottom, and feeds on the eggs of other fish, on 
crabs, and testaceous vermes, or shell-fish. They are commonly 
taken with other flat fish in the trawling net. 
The dorsal fin, in the specimen we have represented, contain* 
ninety-seven rays : pectoral fin ten ; ventral eight : anal eighty' 
three : caudal seventeen. The number of rays in the fins of tb® 
Sole, it should be observed, are extremely liable to vary ; for in' 
stance, Linnteus describes one with seventy-one rays in the dorsal 
fin : another mentioned by Bloch, had eighty rays in that fin » 
and a third by Artedi, ninety-one ; the number of rays in all tb® 
other fins, differed likewise materially. 
