Note 2390 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.

Cuvier states, that Athenæus, B. vii., says that the psetta was the same as the rhombus of the Romans, the modern turbot, the Pleuronectes maximus of Linnæus. From a passage, however, of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 37, he feels convinced that it is the Pleuronectes rhombus of Linnæus, the barbue of the French, and with us the dab or sandling. Aristotle says in that passage, that it is in the habit of concealing itself in the sand, while it moves to and fro the filaments around the mouth, and so attracts the little fish. These filaments, Cuvier says, are small radii of the anterior part of the dorsal fin, which form a sort of fringe around the mouth, whence its French name of barbue. The turbot has no such filaments.