GEN. MERLUCCIUS. THE COMMON HAKE. 201 



three feet. Its body is rather slender and elongated, 

 the gape of the mouth wide ; the under jaw longest, 

 and armed with very long and sharp teeth. The 

 second dorsal fin commences opposite the vent and 

 runs back nearly to the tail, the hinder extremity 

 produced and round, so as to give the outline of 

 the fin a slightly sinuated appearance ; the anal fin 

 of similar size and shape. It is rather a plentiful 

 fish on the English coasts, and also on those of 

 Ireland, but seems to be comparatively rare in the 

 ^Scottish seas. Dr. Parnell, in reference to the Firtli 

 of Forth, informs us that a single specimen was 

 taken some years ago in a stake-net, near Mussel- 

 burgh, and sent to the Edinburgh market, where it 

 appeared to be unknown. In the bay of Galway, 

 on the contrary, as we learn from a writer in 

 Griffith's Cuvier, it is so abundant, that the bay is 

 named, in some ancient maps, the Bay of Hakes : 

 and similar testimony, as to its frequency on the 

 Cornwall coast, is supplied to Mr. Yarrell by Mr. 

 Couch. The generic name indicates its voracity. 

 When enclosed in a sean w^ith pilchards, as fre- 

 quently happens, it gorges itself to its heart's con- 

 tent ; Mr. Couch has seen seventeen pilchards taken 

 from the stomach of a Hake of ordinary size! When 

 taken, they generally disgorge the contents of their 

 stomach. The spawning season is from January to 

 April. 



The flesh of the Hake is held in rather less esti- 

 mation than that of any of the Giididoe noticed in 

 the preceding pages. It is much used, however, in 



