Flounder, Sole, &c. These are generally confined to the muddy or sandy banks of the sea, where they have the power of burying themselves as far as the head, to escape the devastations of the more rapacious tribes. They seldom rise far from the bottom, since, from the want of an air-bladder to buoy them up, which most of the other fishes possess, they are compelled to use their pectoral fins for this purpose, in somewhat the same manner as birds use their wings to rise in the air; and this is not done without considerable exertion: here, therefore, they generally swim with their bodies in an oblique position, and feed on such aquatic worins, &c. as come in their way.

Many of them, as the Holibut, Turbot, and some others, grow to a great size. The eyes of the whole tribe are situated on one side of the head. It is a curious circumstance, that, while the under parts of their body are of a brilliant white, the upper parts are so coloured and speckled as, when they are half immersed in the sand or mud, to render them imperceptible. Of this resemblance they are so conscious, that whenever they find themselves in danger they sink into the mud, and continue perfectly motionless. This is a circumstance so well known to fishermen, that within their palings on the strand they are often under the necessity of tracing furrows with a kind of iron sickle, to detect by the touch what they are not otherwise able to distinguish. Not being rapacious, or furnished with any weapons of defence, these fishes owe their security to this stratagem; while the Thornback and Rays,

that are carnivorous, and armed with strong spines, although flat-fish of a different class, are marbled with lighter colours, that they may be perceived and avoided by less powerful fish.

THE TURBOT*.

The northern parts of the English coast, and some places off the coast of Holland, afford Turbots in greater abundance and in greater excellence than any other parts of the world. Lying here, however, in deep waters, theyare seldom to be caught but by lines.

In fishing for Turbot off the Yorkshire coast, three men go out in each of the boats, each man provided with three lines, every one of which is furnished with two hundred and eighty hooks, placed exactly six feet two inches asunder. These are coiled on an oblong piece of wicker-work, with the hooks baited and placed very regularly in the centre of the coil. When they are used, the nine are ge nerally fastened together so as to form one line with above two thousand hooks, and extending near three miles in length. This is always laid across the current. An anchor and buoy are fixed at the end of each man's line. The tides run here so rapidly that the fishermen can only shoot and haul their lines in the still water at the turn of the tide; and therefore, as it is flood and ebb about every alternate six hours,

SYNONYMS.-Pleuronectes maximus. Linn.-Le Turbot, in France.Bret, in some counties of England.

*

this is the longest time the lines can remain on the ground. When the lines are laid, two of the men usually wrap themselves in the sail and sleep, whilst the third is on watch to prevent their being run down by ships, and to observe the weather; for sometimes storms come on so suddenly that they find it difficult to gain the shore even without their lines.

The boats used in this work are each about a ton burthen; somewhat more than twenty feet in length, and about five in width. They are well constructed for encountering a boisterous sea, and have three pairs of oars, and a sail, to be used as occasion requires. Sometimes larger boats than these are used, which carry six men and a boy. When the latter come to the fishing-ground, they put out two of the smaller boats that they have on board, which fish in the same manner as the three-manned boats do, save that each man is provided with a double quantity of lines; and instead of waiting in these the return of the tide, they return to the large boat and bait their other lines: thus hauling one set and shooting another at every turn of the tide. The fishermen commonly run into harbour twice a week to deliver their fish.

The bait that the Turbots take most readily is fresh herring cut into proper-sized pieces: they are also partial to the smaller lampreys, pieces of haddock, sand-worms, muscles, and limpets; and when none of these are to be had, the fishermen use bullock's liver. The hooks are two inches and a half long in the shank, and near an inch wide betwixt

the shank and the point. They are fastened to the lines upon sneads of twisted horse-hair, twentyseven inches in length. The line is made of small. cording, and is always tanned before it is used *.The Turbots are so extremely delicate in their choice of baits, as not to touch a piece of Herring or Haddock that has been twelvehours out of the sea.

The greatest weight of these fish is about thirty pounds.

In many parts of this country Turbot and Holibut are sold indiscriminately for each other. They are, however, perfectly distinct, the upper parts of the former being marked with large, unequal, and obtuse tubercles; while those of the other are quite smooth, and covered with oblong soft scales that adhere firmly to the body t.

THE SOLE .

In the economy of the Soles we have one circumstance that is very remarkable: among various other marine productions, they have been known to feed on shell-fish, although they are furnished with no apparatus whatever in their mouth for reducing them to a state calculated for digestion. Some that were purchased by Mr. Collinson had their bellies hard and prominent, appearing to be filled with rows of some hard substance, which, on being opened, were

*For the tanning of nets and lines, see the ensuing account of the Herring.

† Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 233. SYNONYMS.-Pleuronectes Solea. Linn.- -La Sole and Perdix de mer, in France.

found to be shell-fish. These, from the bulging of the shells and the intervening interstices, gave the intestines somewhat the appearance of strings of beads. On further examination, some of them were found nearly dissolved, others partly so, but many of them whole*. The most usual food of the Soles is the spawn and young of other fish.

Soles are found on all the British coasts; but those of the western shores are much superior in size to what are taken in the north, since they are sometimes found of the weight of six or seven pounds. The principal fishery for them is in Torbay.

THE CHATODON TRIBE.

IN this tribe, although the species are very numerous, there is only one of which I have met with any account in the least degree interesting.

The head and mouth of the Chaetodons are small, and they have the power of pushing out and retracting the lips so as to make a tubular orifice. The teeth are mostly bristle-shaped, flexile, moveable, closely set, and very numerous. The gillmembrane has from three to six rays. The body is scaly, broad, and compressed; and the dorsal and anal fins are generally terminated with prickles.

THE BEAKED CHATODON t.

The Beaked Chaetodon or Shooting-fish frequents

* Collinson on the Food of Soles, Phil. Tran. vol. xliii. p. 37. SYNONYMS.-Chaetodon rostratus. Linn.-Chaetodon ence. ladus. Sbar.-Jaculator or Shooting-fish. Phil. Tran.-Beaked Chatodon. Shaw. La Boudoulière à bec, by the French.