FISHES. 377 
ginning of April to the end of September in the Thames ; 
but they are so delicate, as scarcely to bear carriage, and 
they are therefore thought best when eaten as near as 
possible to the place where they were taken ; and hence 
the custom of having White-Bait dinners at the taverns 
at Greenwich and Blackwall. It was long supposed that 
the White-Bait was the fry of the shad, but it is now 
proved to be a distinct species. 
THE TURBOT. (Pleuronectes, or Rhombus maximus.) 
THE Turbot is a well-known fish, and much esteemed for 
the delicate taste, firmness, and sweetness of its flesh. 
Juvenal, in his fourth satire, gives us a very ludicrous de- 
scription of the Roman emperor Domitian assembling 
the senate, to decide how arid with what sauce this fish 
should be eaten. The Turbot is sometimes two feet and 
a half long, and about two broad. The scales on the skin 
are so very small, that they are hardly perceptible. The 
colour of the upper side of the body is a dark brown, 
spotted with dirty yellow ; the under side a pure white, 
tinged on the edges with somewhat like flesh-colour, or 
pale pink. There is a great difficulty in baiting the Tur- 
bot, as it is very fastidious in its food ; nothing can allure 
it but herrings, or small slices of haddocks, and lampreys; 
and as it lies in deep water, flirting and paddling on the 
