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Show 248 PISCES. and the anal both very long, uniting in a point a.t the .caudal; only fi and Very short teeth in the jaws. They mhab1t deep water, very ne . . and when taken from it utter sounds s1m1lar to those produced by a Gristes. Two species are captured in the depths of the Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Lepidol. crelorhynchus and tranchyrynchus of Risso, Ed. I, pl. vii, f. 21 and 22.( 1) FAMILY II. PLANI. The second family of the Malacopterygii Subrachiati, com· monly called Flat-fishes, comprises the great genus PLEURONECTEs, Lin.(2) These fishes present a character, which, with respect to vertebrated animals, is perfectly unique: it is the total want of symmetry in the head, where both eyes are on one side, which always remains upper· most when the animal is swimming; and which is always deeply coloured, while that on which the eyes are wanting is always whitish. The remainder of the body, although, generally speaking, formed as usual, participates a little in this irregularity. Thus the two sides of the mouth are not equal, and the two pectorals are rarely so. Their body is strongly compressed and vertically elevated; the dorsal extends along the whole back; the anal occupies the under part of the body, and almost seems to be continued forwards by theven· trals, which are frequently united with it. There are six rays in the branchire. The abdominal cavity is small, but is prolonged by a (1) Direct comparison has satisfied me that the Lepidoleprus CIJJlorhynchm of the Mediterranean, Risso, Ed. I, pl. vii, f. 22, does not differ in the least from the Macrourw rupestris, Bl., 177, or Coryphrena ropestris, Gmel., Gunner, Mem. de Dronth., III, pl. iii, f. 1. On the other hand, the Lepidoleprus trachyrhyru}.UJ, Risso, lb., f. 21, is the same fish as the Oxycephas scabrw, Rafin,, Indic. P1· I, f. 2. The same species, or one closely allied to it, is given in the Atlas ofKrU· senst, pl. lx, f. 8 and 9. Giorna had also furnished incomplete figures of the wo species, Mem. of the A c. of Turin, Vol. IX, pl. 1. The Lepidolepru!! trachyrh'f chua is also the Mysticetus of A.ldrovand. Pisc. p. 342. (2) Pleuronectes, a name formed by Artedi, f1•om '11'}\UJpct, the flank and ~~'l'll,: swimmer, because they swim on the side. The ancients gave them difl'ertn names according to the species, such as Passer, Rhombus, Buglossa, &c. MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIA TI. 249 sinus, which penetrates into the thickness of both sides of the tail for the ~urpose. of lodging a portion of the viscera. The natator; bladder 1s wantmg, and they seldom quit the bottom. The cranium is rendered an object of curiosity by this subversion, which thro'vs both o1·bits on one side; all the bones, however, common to other genera, are found in it, but unequally proportioned. They are taken along the coasts of almost all countries, and furnish a wholesome and delicious article o£ food. Individuals a1·e sometimes captured whose eyes are placed on the side opposite to that in which they are generally seen, they are then said to be contournes, or turned; others again have both sides of the body coloured alike, when they are called doubles or doubled; it is most generally the brown side which is thus reproduced, though it sometimes happens to the white one.(l) '\Ve divide them as fol· lows: PLATESsA, Cuv. A range of obtuse trenchant teeth in each jaw, and, generally, teeth en paves in the pharyngeals; the dorsal extending no farther ~han to above the upper eye, and leaving, as does the anal, a naked mterval between it and the caudal. The form of these fishes is rhomboidal, and most of them have their eyes on the right; they have two or three small creca. Several species are found in the seas of Europe, such as . P. platessa, L.; Bl., 42. (The Plaice.) Easily recognized by s1x or seven tubercles, forming a line on the straight side of its .head, between the eyes, and by the pale yellow spots which reheve the brown on the same side of the body. Its height is but one third of its length. Its f.lesh is considered more tender than that of any of this subgenus.(2) P. latus, Cuv. (The Broad Plaice.) The same tubercles as the vulgaris, hut the body is only once and a half as long as it is high. It is sometimes taken on the coast of France, though rarely. . P.jlesus, L.; Bl., 44, and so, under the name of Pl. passer.(3) (1) The Rose-coloured Flounder, Shaw, IV, ii, pl. 43, is one of those in which the white side is doubled. (2) It would appear that there is a very large Platessa found in the North w~ .1 ch • .m some respects, differs from that taken on the coast of France, and' chtefty in the spine, which, behind the anus, lies buried under the skin-it is the Pl. borealis, Faber, Isis, tom. XXI, p. 868. (3) The Pl. pa8ser of Artedi and Linna:us does not differ from the Turbot; that of Bloch is only an old Flounder turned to the left. VoL. II.-2 G \ |