THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN MERLUCIUS. 241 



in the first dorsal (10 to 11 in M. merlus, 12 to 13 in M. bilinear is), and by the larger size of the 

 scales (the number in the lateral line being about 150 in M. merlus, 100 to 110 in M. bilinearis). 



The general appearance of the two species is very similar, and it requires careful study to 

 separate them. It is probable that at no very remote period they diverged from a common stock. 

 The distribution of the two species upon the opposite sides of the Atlantic coincides very closely 

 with that of other Gadoid fishes, which are specifically identical in Europe and America. The Ilake 

 of Europe is found along the coast from Trondhjem Fjord, latitude 65, south to 36, being very 

 abundant in the Mediterranean; also found on the coast of Portugal and in Western France. In 

 the English Channel, however, and in. the waters of Holland and Germany, it is considered very 

 unusual. On our coast it ranges from New York to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, where it is 

 common especially in the Bay of Chaleur but it has rarely been observed as far north as the 

 Straits of Belle Isle. Dr. Packard was told by fishermen that during a period of forty summers 

 spent on .the coast of Labrador they had taken but one specimen of this tish. This fish has been 

 found at great depths as far south as latitude 3G and 37. 



The name Silver Hake, by which this fish is known in the Bay of Fuudy, is much more 

 appropriate than that of Whiting, though the latter is more frequently heard in New England; its 

 similarity to the European Hake is very great; while the name Whiting, which is in Europe 

 applied to a species (Merlangus vulgaris), somewhat resembling the Pollock, has been appropriated 

 iu this country for a fish on the southern coast and belonging to the drum family. 



MIGRATIONS AND MOVEMENTS. The Silver Hake commonly inhabits the middle depths of 

 ocean, or the outer edge of the continental slope, and comes to the surface to feed. Like the 

 Pollock, it is a fish of prey; its teeth are sharp, its mouth large and powerful, and its form 

 lithe, muscular, and adapted to rapid locomotion. It comes to the surface to prey upon the 

 schools of herring and other small fish, and is frequently caught in the mackerel and bluefish nets. 

 Its Appearance in our waters is irregular, and when seen it is usually iu considerable numbers. 

 Storer, writing in or before 1867, remarked: "When my report was published in 1839 I stated 

 that the Whiting was taken not, however, in large quantities iu our bay iu the summer upon 

 the cod-fishery grounds; since that period this species has increased very perceptibly iu our waters; 

 it is frequently caught in considerable numbers with the hook upon Crab Ledge, a few miles from 

 Boston light-house, and has become at Provincetown a serious inconvenience to the fishermen. 

 Captain Atwood informs me that when the fishermen at the latter place commence the mackerel 

 fishery with nets, which usually takes place about the 20th of May, the Whiting are scarce and 

 lew are caught. By the 1st of June they become more plenty, and from the middle of June to the 

 last of the fishery, which closes about the l^Oth of July, they are exceedingly numerous in parts of 

 the bay in all depths of water. In such quantities are they taken in nets that frequently eight' or ten 

 hours are required for a man to clear the nets of them. At this season of the year so many of 

 them are thrown from the boats upon the shore that the board of health is sometimes called upon 

 to interfere and to compel the fishermen to bury them from the fear of sickness being produced 

 by their decomposition. l>y visiting this point, the easterly extremity of Cape Cod, in June, 1847, 

 I saw quite a number of this species strewed along the shore, where they had been left by the tide 

 while in pursuit of sand-eels and other small fishes. Since that period, the bluefish having been 

 more common, this species does not exist in as great abundance." 



It is difficult in this case, as in many other similar s, to decide exactly what dates to 



assign to the observations of Dr. Storer his "History of Hie Fishes of Massachusetts," in its 

 last edition, having been published at various times from 18(i3 to 1867 as in some instances he 

 contented himself with quoting the exact words of his report printed in 1839. It would seem, 

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