MONSTER COD. 51 



lusca form its most usual supply. I Lave several remark- 

 able specimens of substances found in the stomachs of cod. 



Mr. Grove, of Charing Cross, found in the stomach of 

 a cod (which had been taken by hook and line), a piece 

 of tallow candle — now in my museum — about seven 

 inches long, and of unusual thickness. This piece of 

 candle was shown to Captain Hill, of the North Sea 

 trawler Hurricane, and he tells me cod-fish are not 

 over nice in their taste. On one occasion he lost a 

 bunch of keys overboard when off Cape "Wrath. Some 

 days afterwards the bunch of keys was found in the 

 stomach of a cod caught ** miles away" from the place 

 where they were lost. He has also seen a guillemot 

 taken, " feathers and all," out of a cod. He supposes 

 the cod nipped the guillemot when it was diving. 



In 1867, Messrs Gilson and Co., of Bond Street, fish- 

 mongers, lent me a splendid cod, which weighed 481bs., 

 and measured four feet four inches in length. I took a 

 cast of it. The stomach contained four whitings, weigh- 

 ing in all eight pounds. He must have had a good ap- 

 X^etite, for he had attempted to take a bait which had a 

 hook in it in addition. 



In March, 1872, Mr. Eeed, of Wick, writes in Land 

 and Water : — 



There was landed at our harbour (Port Knockie) last week one 

 of the largest cod, I believe, ever caught on our coast. Although 

 this fish had neither roe nor milt, and was in rather poor condition, 

 and not a particle of food in its stomach, it weighed 601bs. Had 

 it been taken a week or two before, full of roe or milt, I believe it 

 would have been the heaviest cod recorded as having been taken in 

 British waters. The length was four and a-half feet ; girth round 

 thickest part, three feet. The head was enormous, being one and 

 a-half feet from nose to gill-cover, and weighed lolbs. 



The tame cod-fish pond at Port Logan is now cele- 

 brated as a sight most dear to naturalists. In Septem- 



