ORDER III. 



MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATL 



Family I. 

 GADITES. 



MoRRHUA. CUV. 



Generic characters. Body elongated, smooth, compressed 

 towards the tail ; back furnished with three dorsal fins ; ven- 

 tral fins pointed ; abdominal lineioith two fins behind the anal 

 aperture; the lower jaw with one barbule at the chin ; bran- 

 chiostcgous rays 7. 



M. Americana. Nobis. The American Cod. 



Whether the " Morrhua vulgaris," the common Cod, of 

 European writers, is ever taken in the waters of Massachusetts, 

 I am unable to decide. Dr. Mitchell says it is taken " in the 

 sea near Nantucket, and beyond." Certain it is, I have never 

 seen it in Boston market ; and Mr. Newcomb, senior, the oldest 

 fishmonger in our market, who has repeatedly been at the 

 Banks of Newfoundland fishing, assures me, he never knew 

 the bank fish to be caught in our waters. Our fish is the spe- 

 cies which Mitchell considers the " M. callarias," Lin. Rich- 

 ardson thinks " this is probably a distinct species." From 

 Richardson's guarded manner of speaking. I should judge he 

 had never seen a specimen of our species. The much larger 

 size of our fish, the length of the " callarias," according to 

 Yarrell, being only "from twelve to twenty-four inches," 

 which cannot be accounted for by mere difference of locality, 



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