Although the burbot is esteemed a very delicate fish for the table, it is so common in the Oder, and in some other rivers of Germany, that the fishermen, unable otherwise to dispose of all they catch, not unfrequently cut the fattest parts of the fish into slips, and, after drying them, burn them instead of candles. The _livers_ are large and of peculiarly excellent flavour. It is related of a Countess de Beuchlingen, in Thuringia, that she was so partial to the livers of burbots as to expend a great portion of her income in the purchase of them. If suspended in a glass and placed near a hot stove, or in the heat of the sun, they yield an oil which was formerly in great repute as an external application for the removal of swellings. The _air-bladders_, which are so large as often to be nearly one-third of the whole length of the fish, are employed in some countries for making isinglass. ORDER III.--THORACIC FISH. 215. _The JOHN DOREE_ (Zeus faber, Fig. 65) _is a fish very much compressed at the sides, with large head, wide mouth, long filaments to the rays of the first dorsal fin, the tail rounded, and a roundish black spot on each side of the body._ _This fish is an inhabitant of most seas, and is usually about a foot and a half in length; but it is sometimes known to weigh so much as ten or twelve pounds._ It has only been within about the last half century that this delicious, though hideous-looking, fish, has had a place at our tables; and the first person who brought it into notice was the well-known actor and bon-vivant, the late Mr. Quin. Near the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall, dorées are caught in great number both in nets and with lines; and they are principally in season during the months of October, November, and December. Their name is a corruption from the French _jaune dorée_, and signifies golden yellow fish, this being their colour when first taken out of the water. 216. _The HOLIBUT_ (Pleuronectes hippoglossus) _is a flat fish of considerably lengthened shape, of olive or blackish colour above, with smooth body, and the tail hollowed at the extremity. The eyes (as viewed from the head toward the tail) are on the right side._ _These, the largest of all the European species of flat fish, inhabit both the European and American seas, and frequently weigh from 100 to 300 or 400 pounds each._ As the holibut is found only at the bottom of the water, the usual mode of catching it is with hooks and lines; and its size is so great that, for sale in the markets, it is customary to cut it into pieces. The season in which it is most esteemed is during the months of October, November, and December.