360 AMERICAN FISHES. 



the same genus.* Owing to their great similarity, Pliycis chiiss and P. 

 tenuis, are usually known indifferently by the name '' Hake ;" the former, 

 however, is sometimes called the Old English Hake, and the other, Phycis 

 tenuis, the Squirrel Hake or White Hake. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 and the Bay of Chaleur, and also south of Cape Cod, they are invariably 

 called Ling. There has been much confusion both in the names and 

 descriptions applied to them by fishermen and ichthyologists. Their geo- 

 graphical range appears to be essentially the same. The young of one or 

 both species are frequently taken swimming at the surface, on the southern 

 coast of New England, in midsummer, and numerous individuals have been 

 found off Block Island and Watch Hill, seeking shelter between the valves 

 of a large species of scallop, Pectcn tcmiicostatits ; the majority appear to 

 belong to the species of P. chuss. 



THE HAKE. 



The two species are frequently taken by the cod-fishermen, on the 

 shoals south of Cape Cod, but they are there considered to be of Init little 

 value. They are more or less abundant in Massachusetts Bay, in the Bay 

 of Fundy and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Large specimens of one or 

 both species have been taken at a depth of three hundred fathoms as far 

 south as Virginia. 



The Hakes appear to be bottom-loving fishes, and rarely change locality. 

 They feed on crustaceans, and occasionally indulge in a fish diet. One 

 taken at Gloucester in July, 187S, had a menhaden in its stomach. 



It is believed that they spawn throughout the summer, for the young 

 fish are found during all the summer months, while specimens taken at the 

 depth of thirty-seven fathoms August 18, 1878, off Ipswich, at a tempera- 

 ture of 41° F., contained well-de\-eloped ova, and were apparently ready 

 to spawn. 



* The Hake of Europe is a different fish, more closely related to the Silver Hake or Whiting of the New 

 England coast, Merlucius bilinear is. 



