264 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



TEETH IN YOUNG STURGEONS. 



The discovery announced some months ago of the exist- 

 ence of teeth in the young sturgeons has been verified by an- 

 other observer, who states that in the young of the sterlet 

 there are ten teeth in the upper jaw and eight in the lower. 

 This illustrates a very striking difference in habit between 

 the young and the old. The latter, as is well known, have no 

 teeth, and are believed to be somewhat herbivorous in char- 

 acter, or, at least, to feed only on sluggish invertebrates, 

 while the former are quite voracious in their attack upon free- 

 swimming animal prey. The precise period at which these 

 teeth disappear has not been ascertained. 13 A, March 15, 

 1872,111. 



MONSTER COD. 



A contributor to Land and Water speaks of the capture 

 of a monster cod, which he considers to be the largest ever 

 taken on the British coast. Although this fish had neither 

 roe nor milt, and was in so poor a condition as to be without 

 any fat in the stomach, it weighed 60 pounds. It had a 

 length of 4^- feet, and a circumference round the thickest part 

 of the body of 3 feet. It measured l feet from the end of 

 the nose to the outer edge of the gill-cover, and the head 

 weighed 15 pounds when removed from the body. These 

 figures, however, are very often paralleled on the coast of the 

 United States, several instances being recorded of the cap- 

 ture of cod weighing 80, 90, and even 100 pounds. 



The same writer refers to the capture of a ling measuring 

 6 feet in length, in the stomach of which was found a salmon 

 measuring 27 inches, and in good preservation. In the opin- 

 ion of the writer, this shows that the salmon go a long way 

 to sea, as the ling was taken full 8 miles from the coast, in 

 from 30 to 40 fathoms of water. 2 A, March 16, 1872, 187. 



STONES IN THE STOMACHS OF CODFISH. 



The occurrence of stones of decided magnitude, and in con- 

 siderable number, in the stomachs of codfish, is a fact well 

 known to our fishermen, and various surmises have been 

 made to account for it. It is a popular impression, however, 

 that these are taken on board as ballast just before a severe 



