TURBO r. 
157 
spread out the rays of their fins, and move them to and fro 
to attract little fishes so as to devour them. It is further said 
that the true Turbot does not possess such rays to its dorsal 
fin as are fitted to this alleged use, while the Brill is thus 
furnished, as indeed may be seen in a sketch we give of a 
fish of that species which is thus ornamented or supplied. 
It is certain, however, that there is a mistake in these 
particulars, and consequently in the argument which is derived 
from them; and that this development of the first rays of the 
dorsal fin is not only not a circumstance peculiar to the Brill, 
but when it occurs that it is only an exceptional case in that 
occurring only once in many instances, without reference 
to sex or age; while it is found just as often in some others 
of the same family. 
In one example of a Turbot, in which both sides were 
alike in colour, there proceeded from before the eyes a process 
three inches in length, thin in substance, and nearly as wide 
as the breadth of the finger. It was directed forward, and so 
far differed from the rays of the fin as not to be connected 
with them; but although this may have been an abnormal 
formation, yet an enlarged development of the front rays of 
the dorsal fin is in this fish far from being an extraordinary 
occurrence. In this argument, so far as regards magnitude, an 
objection lies against the Brill, that it is never found of equal 
size with a Turbot of full growth; and the following instances 
tend to shew that in some cases the Turbot only can answer 
the requirements of JuvenaBs sarcasm or Martials epigiam. 
It is not uncommon to meet with one of the weight of 
thirty pounds, and I possess a note of an example of which 
the weight was seventy pounds; but even this was exceeded 
by one which is mentioned by Lacepede; another is recorded 
to have been caught in Scotland of the weight of ninety 
pounds and a quarter; and these again were far exceeded by 
one which that eminent naturalist, Bondeletius, informs us he 
himself saw, which in length measured five cubits, or seven 
feet and a half, with a breadth of four cubits, and in thickness 
a foot; which dimensions will frilly answer, and perhaps exceed 
all that is said of the Turbot of Domitian, but which cannot 
be applied to any Brill of which there exists a record. Again, 
in the account given of this transaction, one of the speakers 
