44 GADID.E. 



temperate regions of the globe is anotlier part of this beneficent arrange- 

 ment. Had the rich stream of life, which pours its countless myriads 

 around the Dogger-bank, or on the coasts of Northern Europe and 

 America, been diffused among the coral-reefs and islets of the tropics, 

 man"'s labour had been unavailing to divert any considerable portion of 

 the boon into the lap of industry and wealth. 



In this tribe of Malacopterygious, or Soft-finned fishes, the ventral 

 fins are placed, as in the greater number of the Acanthopteri/giiy just 

 beneath or before the pectoral ; the bones to which they are internally 

 attached being connected with the shoulder. This disposition, however 

 general amongst the Spiny-finned fishes, serves to distinguish the Gadidte 

 from all the other families of the Malacopterygii^ except the Flat-fishes 

 {Pleuronectidte), and Sucking-fishes (Ci/clopterida and Echene'ida) ; the 

 characters of which, however, are so peculiar that there is no risk of con- 

 fusion. The order which contains these families is termed by Cuvier 

 Suhhrachial ; in allusion to the attachment of the ventrals forward un- 

 derneath the arms (brachia) or pectoral fins, instead of backward on 

 the belly (abdominal), as in the Carp, Pike, Salmon, and Herring tribes. 



The GadidfE have always two, and often three dorsal fins ; and fre- 

 quently two anal fins. Their mouth or gape is large, but feebly armed 

 with teeth. Their cceca are numerous. They are furnished with a large 

 air-bladder, which in the common Cod is well known by the name of 

 Sound or Zounds, and is often separately cured and packed in small casks 

 as a delicacy for the table. The flesh of nearly all the species is white, 

 flaky, free from toughness, easily digestible, and of excellent flavour. It 

 possesses these qualities most eminently in the colder seasons of the 

 year. 



The subject of the present chapter possesses none of these claims to 

 attention. It is both insignificant in size, and of excessive rarity ; two 

 examples only having hitherto occurred. It is, however, a most interest- 

 ing addition, ichthyologically speaking, to a genus of at present few known 

 species, and which, geographically, seems to take the place or mark 

 the boundary which terminates the southern range of the Gadida : for 

 whilst this family has in the Mediterranean dwindled down to a few, 

 and in Madeira to still fewer representatives, the genus Phycis abounds 

 in one or other of its species ; of which only one (P. furcatus, Flem.) is 

 but occasionally seen in Britain. The common " Abrotea" of Madeira 

 {Phycis Mediterranens, Lar.) is one of the most abundant fishes in the 

 market at all seasons. 



The addition, therefore, of a second species to the list of the Madeiran 

 fishes, independent of its novelty and rarity, has been a valuable con- 

 firmation to these views ; and it was peculiarly gratifying to be enabled, 

 by my friend Mr. YarrelPs examination and discovery of its specific 



