282 GADID/E. 



" This fish is gregarious and migratory, never making its 

 appearance before May, after which it is abundant from the 

 edge of the shore to every part of the Channel. Its winter 

 station is probably deep in the water ; but in summer it 

 keeps near the surface, and seeks the shelter of everything it 

 finds floating; a circumstance that often leads to its destruc- 

 tion, for it is frequently hauled on board boats among the 

 corks of nets, or with the line, or floating weeds ; and in a 

 storm they are often thrown into boats through the breaking 

 of the sea, a circumstance which shows that at such seasons 

 they must be on the crest of the wave. 1 ' 1 



" This fish dies instantly on being taken out of the 

 water." 



Part of a letter received from Mr. Couch in May 1840 is 

 to the following effect : " I yesterday had an opportunity of 

 observing the actions of a little company of Mackerel Midges 

 that had been left by the tide in a large pool. Sometimes 

 they gamboled about, keeping the body permanently bent at 

 nearly a right angle, and moving the tail with great rapidity ; 

 at other times they kept under the shelter of a piece of sea- 

 weed, or other floating substance, and, passing across it re- 

 peatedly, seemed to delight in rubbing their backs against it." 



This small fish, with much the appearance of being the 

 young of a larger species, and closely allied in form to the 

 Five-Bearded Rockling, presents in its economy some of the 

 attributes of a species. Unlike the fish last described, which 

 is very tenacious of life, this little fish, it is said, dies in- 

 stantly on being taken out of the water : it does not appear 

 every summer, as might be expected if it was the young of 

 so common and local a species as the Five-Bearded Rock- 

 ling ; and although present, as it is frequently said to be, 

 during the greater part of the summer, when fry grow most 

 rapidly, no increase is observed in its size. 



