MORRHUA. 193 



covers. Wounds heal in a few days, so that 

 however badly the skin is torn, the gelatine of the 

 blood is poured in so copiously as to close the 

 breach much sooner than the healing process is 

 completed in warm-blooded animals. 



Two or three years since the keeper of Rains- 

 ford island caught a cod which had suspended to 

 about a yard of line, a lead weight of several 

 pounds, the other end being secured to a hook 

 which was deeply imbedded in the bones and in- 

 teguments of the upper jaw. How long the poor 

 fish had been dragging about the inconvenient bur- 

 den, it was difficult to decide. 



The best bait for pleasure-party cod-fishing, is 

 the common mud clam ; by some, however, the 

 menhaden is thought preferable. Many kinds offish 

 may be successfully caught by the flesh of their 

 own species, but this is not the case with the cod. 

 That the odor of some kinds of bait is particularly 

 agreeable is well established, but the smell of pu- 

 trid matter, to this fish is so offensive, that instead 

 of playing about the hook they generally at once 

 go beyond its influence. We extract the follow- 

 ing remarks upon this species of fish from the Con- 

 versations Lexicon. 



" Cod (gadus, L.,Bloch.); a genus of fishes be- 

 longing to the order jugulares (soft-finned, sub- 

 brachial, of Cuvier), distinguished by the following 

 13 



