208 
THE FLOU N PER. 
thnt the two sides are unequal, and it is very rare to find the 
pectoral fins resembling one another. In the branchial mem- 
brane are five rays ; the body seems compressed, as though 
pressed between two stones ; the dorsal fin encircles the 
fish like a ribbon, so that the back is on one side ! The venter, 
or inside cavity, is quite small, but prolonged into a canal in 
the sido of the tail. There is no air-bladder i and the ekul 
is the oddest of all crania, in oonsequence erf the arrangement 
for accommodating both eyes on one side. .... 
“Notwithstanding the confused manner m which the 
skeleton is put together, distorted, and twisted in the queer- 
est form, there is only about the ordinary number ot bones, 
entering into the composition of other fishes. 
“Flounder. — (Platessa Vulgaris.)— Being without the 
swimming-bladder, they naturally keep near the bottom. 
Indeed, organized, as they obviously are, for looking upward, 
rather than downward, for their food, as well as the objects 
they are to avoid. It is quite rapid in its movements, but 
prefers to remain on the surface of the mud, into which it 
nestles for concealment, in case of fright. 
Mitchill has the following: “ Flounder of Ncw-York. 
(Pleuronectes dentatus.)- With wide, toothed, oblique 
mouth, and pale brown uniform back. Grows to the size 
of twenty-four inches long, and twelve broad, in the south 
bays of Long Island, and weighs five pounds. I have seen 
him even larger than that. There is considerable variety ill 
his color and spots. Color of the back and fins commonly a 
pale brown, without lines or spots ; and yet varieties occur, 
where the spotted appearance is very plain.” 
The size of the usual run of this fish, at New-York an 
Boston, is from five to fifteen inches in length by three to ten 
in breadth. Like the eel, they lie in tho soft mud at the 
bottom of rivers, near to tho docks, lumber piles, bridge 
spiles, &c., living on muscles, insects, and the spawn of fishes. 
