1. GADUS. 331 



Vertical fins rather short, close together. Caudal truncated. The 

 second ventral ray is prolonged into a filament. 

 Kamtschatka. 



4. Gadus tomcodus. 



The American Codfish. 



? Gadus callarias, var. ^, Fiihr. laun. Grcenl. p. 144. 



Tom-cod, Schoepf, Schrift. Gesellsch. Nattirf. Freimd. viii. p. 140. 



Gadus tom-cod, Bl. Schn. p. 8. 



Frost Cod, Pentt. Arct. Zool. Suppl. p. 114. 



Gadus callarias, Mitch. Lit. ^ Phil. Trans. Neto York, i. p. 3(38. 



tomcodus, Mitch. Lit. ^ Phil. Trans. New York, i. p. 368 (G.prui- 



nosus). 

 ? Gadus nanus, Faber, Fischelsl. p. 113. 

 Morrhua tomcodus, Store?; Fish. Massach. p. 126 ; Dekay, Neio Yo7-k 



Faun. Fishes, p. 278. pi. 44. fig. 142. 

 americana, Storer, I. c. p. 120 ; Dekay, I. c. pi. 44. fig. 140, 



D. 13-14 I 17-18 1 19. A. 22-23 | 18. 



Barbel rather short, as long as the eye, which is one-sixth of the 

 length of the head, and rather less than one-half the width of the 

 interorbital space. 8nout more than twice as long as the eye, obtuse, 

 with the upper jaw longest. The height of the body is less than the 

 length of the head, which is two-ninths of the total (without caudal). 

 The vent is situated vertically below the last rays of the first dorsal. 

 The two anal fins separated from each other by an interspace. Pro- 

 portions of the fins : — 



ID. 2D. 3D. 1 A. 2 A. 

 1 : 1-6 : 1-1 : 2 : 1 



Brownish or greenish, mottled with darker and lighter ; adult speci- 

 mens with small yellowish spots on the back. 



Atlantic coasts of the Northern States of North America. 



a. Fourteen inches long. Boston. Presented by B. Winstone, Esq. 

 h. Young : skin. New York. From Dr. Pamell's Collection. 

 c. Adult : stuffed. N. America. Presented by E. Doubleday, Esq. 

 d-g. Young. N. America. Purchased of Mr. Warwick. 



It is very difficult to arrive at a correct idea as regards the species 

 which have served for the descriptions of the earlier North American 

 writers. It appears that Mitchill described the American Cod under 

 two names — the adult state as G. callarias, and the young as G. tom- 

 codus; just as European ichthyologists, induced by popular distinctions, 

 named the old Codfish G. morrhua, and the immature G. callarias. 

 The G. morrhua of Mitchill may be the European species. Storer 

 also distinguishes two species : the old as Morrhua americana (not 

 likely =6^. morrhua, Mitch., as he supposes), and the young as M. 

 tomcodus. 



The fish described by Faber as Gadus nanus, and considered by 

 him as identical with the second variety of G. callarias, Fabr., ought 

 perhaps to be referred to the Tom Cod, both having the vent situ- 

 ated more forward than in the true Cods. 



