188 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



within a limited time after being cured. Many are 

 prepared in this manner at Aberdeen, and these 

 enjoy a greater reputation than any others. They 

 are sold in small bundles, and are very much used 

 in Edinburgh and many other cities in Scotland. 

 Small Haddocks, simply dried and uncooked, are 

 called Speldrings^ and a good many are consumed in 

 that state. 



It is rather a curious circumstance in the distri- 

 bution of the Haddock, that, although ranging far 

 to the north, it has never yet been seen in the 

 Baltic ; neither does it occur in the Mediterranean. 

 To the west, however, like its congener the Cod, it 

 reaches the American shores, vast shoals having been 

 found on the coast of Massachusetts. Fabricius ob- 

 served it to be pretty numerous in the Greenland 

 seas, but it is not a little singular, that out of the 

 many he examined, not one was found vdth the 

 large black spot behind the pectorals, the mark of 

 St. Peter's thumb, which, as far as we know, is never 

 wanting in British specimens. He adds that neither 

 Artedi nor Linnaeus (It. Scan, and It. Wgoth) make 

 any mention of that spot, and he thence concludes 

 that it is not a constant mark. 



The French fishermen call the Haddock, Hadot, 

 and Mr. Yarrell conjectures that our name is thence 

 derived. In Scotland the name is pronounced al- 

 most exactly like the French word, omitting the 

 final letter ; and as it is the practice in the dialect 

 of Edinburghshire and some other places to change 



