SUPPLEMENT 



ON THE 



THIRD ORDER OF FISHES. 



MALACOPTERYGII SUBBRACHIATI. 



In the first family of this order, Gadites, the subdivision 

 which claims our first and principal attention is the subgenus 

 Morrhua, the type of which is the well-known cod. 



When towards the commencement of the tenth century, 

 Gaspard de Corte Real, a Portuguese gentleman, jealous of 

 the Spaniards, and their rival in the desire of discovering 

 new countries, cast anchor in the midst of the fogs on the 

 savage coasts of a sterile island, on landing for the first time 

 in Newfoundland, he certainly did not think that he was 

 opening for Europe a source of riches, more profitable, equally 

 certain, and far less inexhaustible than those which the proud 

 rivals of his nation derived from the mines of Potosi, whose 

 conquest had been purchased by such effusions of human 

 blood. The fact, however, is certain ; and, in the hands of 

 the industrious fishermen of Europe, a fish, in other respects 

 by no means remarkable, has become the origin of the most 

 assured and most lucrative branch of commerce. 



The weight of the common cod varies between twelve and 

 eighty or a hundred pounds. It is very voracious, and 

 feeds on fish, on herrings more especially, on mollusca, on 

 worms, and Crustacea. The digestive power of its gastric 



