Class IV. COMMON COD FISH. 177 



cy often brought from Newfoundland. Ifinglafs is Isinglass. 

 alfo made of this part by the Iceland fifhermen : as 

 the procefs may be of fervice to inftrudt the natives 

 of the North of Scotland where thefe fiu\ are plen- 

 tiful, I beg leave to give it in the Appendix, 

 extracted from a ufeful paper on the fubjedt, in 

 the Ph. Tr. of 1773, by Humphrey Jack/on, Efq. 



Providence hath kindly ordained, that this fifh, Vastly 



Prolific* 

 fo ufeful to mankind, fhould be fo very prolific as 



to fupply more than the deficiencies of the mul- 

 titudes annually taken. Leuwenhoek counted nine 

 millions three hundred and eighty-four thoufand 

 eggs in a cod fifh of a middling fize, a number fure 

 that will baffle all the efforts of man, or the vora- 

 city of the inhabitants of the ocean to exterminate, 

 and which will fecure to all ages an inexhauftible 

 fupply of grateful provifion. 



In our feas they begin to fpawn in January^ and 

 depofite their eggs in rough ground, among rocks. 

 Some continue in roe till the beginning of' April. 

 The cod fifh in general recover quicker after 

 fpawning than any other fifh, therefore it is com- 

 mon to take fome good ones all the fummer. When 

 they are out of feafon they are thin tailed and 

 loufy, and the lice chiefly fix themfelves on the in- 

 (ide of their mouths. 



The fifh of a middling fize are mod efteemed 



for the table, and are chofen by their plumpnefs 



and roundnefs, efpecially near the tail, by the 



depth of the fulcus or pit behind the head, and by 



Vol. Ill N the 



