S28 GADID.E. 



to be tenable, and that the blunt-headed lighter-coloured 

 fish docs not range so far south as the sharper-nosed dark 

 fish. Our fishermen now finding plenty of Codfish near 

 home, the London shops for the last year or two have only 

 now and then exhibited specimens of the short-nosed northern 

 Cod : both varieties are equally good in quality, and both are 

 frequently taken on the same ground. 



The length of the specimen described was three feet, and 

 the weight about twelve pounds. The length of the head 

 compared to the length of the body alone, without the cau- 

 dal rays, is as one to two and a half; the depth of the body 

 equal to the length of the head : the first dorsal fin com- 

 mences in a vertical line just behind the origin of the pecto- 

 rals ; the second dorsal commences in a line over the anal 

 aperture, and ends on the same plane as the first anal fin ; 

 the third dorsal fin and the second anal fin begin and finish 

 on the same plane : the tail nearly square ; all the rays of 

 the fins covered with an extension of the skin of the body. 



The fin-rays in number are 



D. 10. 20. 18. : P. 20 : V. 6 : A. 20. 16. : C. 26. Vertebrae 50. 



The head is large ; the belly tumid and soft ; the body 

 tapering gradually throughout the latter half; the cavity of 

 the abdomen extended internally behind the anal aperture, 

 the intestine being recurved : the upper part of the head, 

 cheeks, back, and sides, mottled and spotted with greenish 

 ash ; the belly white ; the lateral line white, broadest along 

 the posterior half; all the fins dusky, the first and second 

 dorsal being rather lighter in colour than the rest : a broad 

 band of short teeth on the upper jaw, which is the longest, 

 and on the anterior part of the vomer ; a narrower band on 

 the lower jaw, with one elongated barbule at the chin : the 

 irides silvery, the pupil blue ; the breadth of the orbit one- 

 sixth of the length of the head. 



