206 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



juries to which most other animals would fall 

 victims. 



In the Firth of Forth, Ling are taken principally 

 about the Isle of May, where they are found more 

 plentifully than further up the estuary ; occasionally 

 small ones are met with near Inchkeith, but scarcely 

 ever above Queensferry. * The Edinburgh market 

 seems, at times, to be well supplied with them. 



The range of this species extends northwards as 

 far as Greenland ; it is plentiful on the coasts of 

 Norway, 900,000 pounds weight being annually 

 exported from that country. We are unacquainted 

 with its southern limit. 



The specific name, molva^ first applied to this 

 fish by Charleton, is said by Cuvier to be a corrup- 

 tion of Morrhua : lin^ is synonymous with the 

 northern words laenga and loenge^ and means long. 



(Sp. 159.) L. vulgaris. The Burbot. The de- 

 pressed head of this fish, its nearly cylindrical body, 

 and the oval and pointed tail, give it rather a pecu- 

 liar and not very pleasing aspect, while its smooth, 

 slippery, and slimy skin does not invest it with any 

 additional attractions. It reminds one in several 

 respects of the eel, to which it likewise bears a re- 

 semblance in its habits. It is this similarity that 

 has caused it to be named the Eel-pout, and has 

 afforded Mr. Swainson more plausibility than he 

 usually possesses on such occasions, in considering 

 the family of the Gadidae as representatives of the 

 Apodal order among the soft-rayed tribes. The 

 * Mem, Wem. Soc, vol. vii. p. 353. 



