COD, POLL O CK, HADDOCK AND HAKE. 347 



Dcrcmber 23, and was estimated to have 294 eggs to the grain, the ovaries 

 weighing 12,540 grains; the total number, according to this calculation, 

 is 3,686, 760. 



The result of Mr. Earll's observations indicates that in June the 

 fish hatched the previous winter, or about six months old, range from 

 one and a half to three inches in length ; while those from nine to 

 thirteen inches long, and weighing seven or eight ounces, were eighteen 

 months old ; those seventeen to eighteen inches long, and weighing 

 two to two and a quarter pounds, were supposed to be two years 

 and a half old ; those of about twenty-two inches, which weighed four to 

 five pounds, were three years and a half old. He also concludes that the 

 male reaches maturity at the age of three, and female at the age of four 

 years, for the smallest ripe male noticed during the season of iSyS-'yQ 

 weighed three and one-half pounds, and the smallest ripe female five 

 pounds.* 



I have before me memoranda relating to a large number of enormous 

 Codfish, taken along the New England coast at various times from 1830 

 to 1879. It seems unnecessary to refer to them, excepting the cases of a 

 few which exceed one hundred pounds in weight. Capt. King Harding, 

 of Swampscott, tells me that he once caught, on the eastern side of Cape Cod, 

 a fish weighing loi pounds as it came from the water. On the 22d of 

 July, 1873, Miss Fannie Belis, of St. Louis, while on a fishing excursion 

 off Eastern Point, on board the yacht "United States," caught a Cod 

 which weighed 130 pounds. Capt. G. H. Martin caught, off Chatham, a 

 Codfish which weighed, dressed, iii pounds. Capt. Stephen Mar, of 

 Gloucester, saw a Codfish taken on George's Banks in 1838, which, after 

 having been eviscerated, weighed 136 pounds. Capt. Atwood says, on 

 the coast of Cape Cod he has never seen a male Codfish, with one excep- 

 tion, which weighed more than 60 pounds ; he once saw one, however, 

 which weighed 160 pounds. This fish was not much larger than an ordinary 

 fish weighing 75 pounds, but was very thick. 



Capt. Atwood remarks : "In regard to size, the Cod differs very widely 

 in different localities. "When taken on the Grand Banks it usually requires 

 from thirty to forty to make a quintal when dried. Those caught in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence with hand-lines are smaller, requiring seventy or 



* On pages 733-734 of Mr. Earll's report maybe found the measurements of a large number of Codfish of 

 different weights, and with the ovaries and spermaries in different stages of development. These measure- 

 ments are interesting, since they show the relation between the length and weight of individual fish. 



