AMERICAN FISHES. 



Upon the obverse is a plow with the legend "Speed the Plough," upon 

 the reverse a salted Codfish with the words, " Success to the Fisheries." 



Codfish feed upon all marine animals smaller than themselves which are 

 found in the same waters with them and are digestible. For a long period 

 of years, before our naturalists learned to use the hand-dredge, a favorite 

 place in which to search for the rare invertebrates of the deep water was 

 the fish-dealer's stall, and from the stomachs of Codfish scores of shells 

 new to science have been taken. Since the introduction of improved 

 methods of deep-sea research the mode of collecting has been somewhat 

 less prosperous, but even at the present time many important additions to 

 zoology are yearly made by the aid of this omnivorous animal. 



Codfish swallow bivalve shells of the largest size, like the great sea 

 clams, which are a favorite article of food on certain portions of the coast ; 

 for instance, in Ipswich Bay great beds of empty shells of the sea-clam, 

 Mactra oralis, may be found upon the bottom. These shells are 

 "nested," the smaller inside of the larger, sometimes six or seven in a 

 set, having been packed together in this compact manner in the stomachs 

 of the Codfish after the soft parts have been digested out. Some of them 

 had shreds of the mussels remaining in them and were quite fresh, having 

 evidently been but recently ejected by the fish. In Dana's "Geology" 

 are mentioned gr^at banks of dead shells off the island of Grand Manan, 

 which doubtless originated in the same manner. Mr. W. H. Dall found 

 some similar beds on the coast of Alaska which he attributed to the walrus, 

 but which are more probably the remains of mollusks eaten by the Codfish. 

 They feed also upon crabs of all kinds, lobsters and star fish, and have 

 been seen at the surface catching the potato beetles and "June-bugs" 

 which have drifted out from the shore. It is said that they succeed occa- 

 sionally in capturing a duck,* and that they vary their diet by browsing 

 upon carrageen, or Irish moss, which grows on the ledges near the shore. 

 In searching at the bottom for shells and worms, Codfish often pick up 

 objects which can hardly be regarded as nutritious. A very amusing 

 catalogue of such objects might be included in this chapter, in which 

 would be enumerated articles such as scissors, brass oil-cans, potato 

 parings, corn cobs, and head of a rubber doll. The finding of finger- 

 rings and fragments of oil-clothing, and the heel of a boot, inside of a 



* The Vineyard Gazette says that Mr. James Osborne took a Codhsh on Wednesd.ay, at the " South Side," 

 which weighed over sixty pounds. On dressing it, two full-grown ducks (old squaws) were found it its en- 

 trails. They were quite fresh, having most of their feathers. — Gloucester Telegraph, May 6, 1857. 



