of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 74 
They are broadly ovate, and the margins are obscurely crenulated ; they 
are also moderately thin, and at the time they were removed from the 
fish the concentric growth-lines were very distinct. 
Pleuronectes limanda, Linn. The Dab. Pl. 11. B., figs. 28 and 29; pl. 
lll. A., figs. 27-31, 
The earstones represented by figs. 27 and 28, pl. ii. a., are from dabs 
of moderate size (8 to 9 inches long), but their exact length was not 
recorded. They have a tolerable resemblance to the earstones of young 
halibut, represented by figs. 2 to 5 on the same plate (pl. iii. a.). They 
measure about 5mm. in length by about 3mm. in depth. Figs. 29 to 30 
represent the earstones of fishes measuring 72 inches, 52 inches, and 43 
inches long, while the earstones themselves measure about 4°5mm., 
3‘5mm., and 3mm. respectively, their width being about two-thirds of 
the length. 
Pleuronectes cynoglossus, Linn. The Witch Sole. Pl. i. B., figs. 
26-29 ; pl. iii. a., figs. 22-26; pl. iv., fig. 30. 
The witch sole has earstones which differ very distinctly in shape from 
all the other species of Pleuronectes referred to here. They are large in 
proportion to the size of the fish, very flat, and nearly circular in outline, 
and it is in this latter respect that they differ so distinctly from the 
other species. 
The largest of the witch soles mentioned here measured 16 inches in 
length, and its earstones (pl. ili. a., fig. 22) were fully 8mm. across their 
Icngest diameter by about 7-5mm. across the narrowest part. The lower 
margin is nearly straight, but otherwise the outline is almost circular. 
The longest diameter of these earstones is about one-fiftieth part of the 
entire length of the fish. The other specimens whose earstones are 
represented here were of various sizes, and all of them smaller than the 
one referred to above. The length of the different specimens and the 
size of their earstones are given in the annexed Table. 
| Earstones. 
oe poe Length of the Fish. 
Length. Width. 
26 (pl. i. B.) 170mm. 35mm. 3.5mm. 
27 a 165mm. 3°dmm. 3°2mm. 
28 is 160mm. 3°5mm. 3°3mm. 
29 5 | 153mm. 3°2mni. | 3°Omm. fully. 
23 (pl. iii. A. | 12 inches. | 55mm. | 5:Omm. 
OA iL One 5‘5mm. and One 5‘0Omm. and 
2 Bie 5 one 5‘0Omm. one 4°7mm. 
25 ie EOF iss 50mm. 45mm. 
26 x ae 4-3mm. 4‘2mm. 
{ { 
It will be observed that the earstones represented by fig. 26 (pl. ili. a.) 
have about the same proportion to the length of the fish as that of the 
larger examples specially referred to, while a slight variation is obsery- 
able in the length of the earstones of the smaller fishes. 
