386 r - s - BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



have referred to it under the name of Gadus macrocephalus, which 

 was bestowed by Tilesius upon the Kamchatka!! cod, the figure of 

 which suggests that it was based upon a deformed individual. Cope, 

 in 1873, described the young of the common Alaska cod as a new 

 species, Gadus auratus, from specimens collected by Prof. George 

 Davidson, of the United States Coast Survey, at Unalaska. Stein- 

 dachner, in the Proceedings (Sitzungsberichte) of the Vienna 

 Academy, lxi, 1, 1870, adopts the name G. macrocephalus for a large 

 cod taken in De Castries Bay (mouth of Amur River), Siberia. In 

 this example the length of the head is contained exactly three times 

 in the total length to the extreme end of the pointed caudal peduncle. 

 The same proportion, however, may be found in any place where 

 large numbers of Gadus morrliua are taken, and it can readily be 

 proven to be only a matter of individual variation." 



In the summer of 1880, the late Prof. Spencer F. Baird, then 

 United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, sent Dr. Tarleton 

 H. Bean to Alaska for the purpose of investigating its fish and 

 fisheries, and he made the first extended report on the Pacific cod 

 that had been made up to that time. 3 As a result of his investiga- 

 tions, he considers the Atlantic and Pacific cod as of the same species. 

 Jordan and Evermann 4 call it G. macrocephalus, and in justification 

 of this state. 



In external respects we recognize no distinction between this species [refer- 

 ring to a specimen 20 inches long taken in the Strait of Juan tie Fuca by the 

 Albatross] and the common eastern codfish, except that the head seems larger. 



They also quote Doctor Gilbert 5 as follows : 



It has been frequently pointed out, and is well known to fishermen, that the 

 Pacific codfish has a smaller air bladder or sound than the Atlantic cod. 

 Pending an examination of this question, which we are not now in a position 

 to make, we propose to recognize the Pacific cod as a distinct species. 



Much has been said and written of the difference in size between 

 the sound of the Atlantic cod and that of the Pacific. A large part 

 of this is hearsay, based largely on the statements of fishermen, few 

 of whom have ever made any effort to save them. I cut out a few 

 sounds in 1913, but unfortunately these were lost in some way during 

 transportation ; and although it had been some years since I had cut. 

 a sound from an Atlantic cod, it seemed to me that the Pacific sounds 

 were almost, if not quite, as large, but thinner. Some few years ago 

 the Alaska Codfish Co. made an effort to save the sounds at one of 

 its Alaska stations, but the men refused to do so except at an exor- 

 bitant price. A. Greenebaum, the president of the company, writes 

 that the sounds are small in size. 



The only authentic record I have of a direct comparison of Pacific 

 and Atlantic sounds is in a letter from Dr. W. C. Kendall, ichthyolo- 

 gist. United States Bureau of Fisheries, under date of January 22, 

 1915, in which he states : 



The air bladder of the big Pacific cod [the weight of this was about HO pounds 

 and its total length about 39 inches], after removal, measured about 13 inches 

 in length, with no perceptible horns exceptin<> slight projections, but it bad a 

 very large pouch on each side of the anterior end. 



s The Cod Fishery of Alaska, by Tarleton II. Bean. The Fisheries and Fishery 

 Industries of the United States. Pt. II. see. 5, Vol. I. pp. 19S-22f>. 



* The Fishes of North and Middle America, bv D. S. Jordan and B. W. Evermann. 

 Bulletin, United States National Museum, No. 47. Tt. III. pp. 2541. 2542. (180S.) 



s Ibid., p. 2542. 



