Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/590

556 "Brill-Turbot." It was thought to be a hybrid. It exhibited a curious blending of the two species. It resembled the Turbot in shape; the head was a Brill's, as were the markings; and it was deficient in the spines which distinguish the other side.—Trans. Norf. and Nor. Soc. 1896–97, p. 295.]

* R. megastoma. Sail Fluke. A.—First recorded for the county, June 18th, 1875; Norfolk Estuary. I obtained a five-inch specimen on May 3rd, 1893, which was taken in a shrimper's net on that date.

†Zeugopterus punctatus. Müller's Topknot. A.—A fine adult specimen was brought me by a shrimper on June 11th, 1890; length 7½ in. Not before recorded for county. Now in Norwich Museum. A second example, taken in a trawl-net on Smith's Knowle, on March 11th, 1894; length, 6¼ in.

Pleuronectes platessa. Plaice. C.—Large specimens appear to be decreasing; a great many immature are brought in and sold in the early winter. The trawlers mercilessly pursue the spawning fish. Prior to the advent of "carriers" to the fishing fleets, trawlers anchored in the roads; their fish were "ferried" ashore in huge ferry-boats, run up the beach on "troll-carts," and sent off to London by train. Trolls and ferry-boats are now obsolete. A solitary troll-cart is preserved in Yarmouth Museum. "Peds" (hampers) of huge Plaice were then quite an institution. Examples are occasionally blotched (never wholly grey) upon the under side; in the patches red spots inevitably correspond with those on the upper side.

P. limanda. Dab. C.—Occasionally hooked on sandy patches a short way up the river, seldom on a muddy bottom. Frequent from the piers in summer. Small ones are named by the shrimpers as "Cock Soles." Local, "Sand Dab."

* P. microcephalus. Smeared Dab. C.—Considerable numbers from the trawlers. Not often caught inshore. Very ruddy-tinted examples, like the second figure in Couch's 'Fishes,' vol. iii. p. 188, occur occasionally. Is erroneously named by fishers and others the "Lemon Sole," with no tangible reason whatsoever.

†Hippoglossoides limandoides. Long Rough Dab. R. R.—I first recognized this as local, from a specimen sixteen inches in length, on a fishmonger's slab, on Jan. 20th, 1891. I am surprised at its prior non-identification, as I have found several examples since.