CODS. 253 



their intertwining ; these are shot across the 

 course of the tide. The other mode is by hand- 

 lines, of which each fisherman holds two, one in 

 each hand, and each line bears two hooks at its 

 extremity, which are kept apart by a stout wdre 

 going from one to the other. A heavy leaden 

 weight is attached near the hooks, and thus the 

 fisherman feels when his bait is ofi" the ground. 

 He continually jerks them up and down, and is 

 thus aware of a fish the moment it is secured. 

 Although this seems a somewdiat tedious process 

 of fishing compared with the immense draughts 

 of the net, it is found in skilful hands to be 

 productive : eight men on the Dogger-bank have 

 taken eighty score of Cod in a day. 



As in the Cod the peculiar texture and arrange- 

 ment of the muscles, laid in broad thin parallel 

 flakes, are more obvious than in most other fishes, 

 we will take occasion here to quote a few obser- 

 vations of Professor Owen's on the nature of 

 muscle in this Class of Vertebrata. " The mus- 

 cular tissue {inyonine) of fishes is usually colour- 

 less, often opaline, or yellowish ; white when 

 boiled : the muscles of the pectoral fins of the 

 Sturgeon and Shark are, however, deeper colour- 

 ed than the others ; and most of the muscles of 

 the Tunny are red, like those of the warm-blooded 

 Classes. The want of colour relates to the com- 

 paratively small proportion of red blood circu- 

 lated through the muscular system; and to the 

 smaller proportion of red particles in the blood 

 of fishes : the exceptions cited seem to depend 

 on increased circulation, with great energy of 

 action ; and, in the Bonito and Tunny, with a 

 greater quantity of blood, and a higher tempera- 



