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Extremely close to the haddock, if we attempted to class fishes by 

 their otoliths, comes a fish with a whole catalogue of local names — the 

 coal-fish or ranning — that is, ravenous pollack {Merlanyus carhonarius) 

 not to be confounded with the common or whitiag pollack, or cole whiting. 

 Although the hc:id of a fully-grown specimen weighed several pounds, 

 the size of the otoliths obtained from it were \>\\t little longer than those 

 of a haddock, but tbey are thicker and of more robust a type, also slightly 

 diftereut in shape, wliilst the furrowing on the outside is very deeply 

 marked. ~So one would hesitate from their general resemblance, to place 

 the two fishes in one family, but the otoliths of our other two species 

 have no such resemblance, either to themselves or any other member of it. 



The common whiting {Merlangus vulgaris) has a very peculiar 

 otolith. Like those we have just been considering, the larger end is 

 flirected forwards and this end is rounded and slightly knotched, and the 

 very delicate and minute denticulations are prolonged on the lower side 

 as far as the apex. For about the total length that a similar bone from a 

 haddock would occupy, the sides are parallel, but from this point, that of 

 the lower side inclines upwards at an angle of about 20" until it joins the 

 other, the extremity of the otolith is thus produced to a point giving a 

 total length to the bone of upwards of an inch. This bone being much 

 more thin and slender than those already described, is very brittle, and 

 easily broken. The surface is unevea, which, in the absence of rugosities, 

 affords an equally good holdfast for the nerves. 



The whiting is decidedly attached to shallow feeding grounds, so that, 

 good organs of hearing are absolutely necessary to them. 



Throughout the autumn and winter, "we notice that small haddocks, 

 upon fishmougers' slabs, frequently acquire the reprehensible habit of 

 twisting themselves around and getting sold as substitutes for whiting, 

 and as spring approaches, another of the family does the same, this is the 

 pouting {Gadus luscus) the otoliths of which tell it at once, as they have 

 most distinctive characteristics. Shorter and stouter than any of those 

 we have been considering, they irresistibly remind us of a child's eye- 

 tooth. The thickness is almost oiie-half of the length, the end abruptly 

 pointed, and the few rugosities (very marked) extend only half-way 

 towards the tip. The difference between the bones in these two nearly 

 allied fishes is indeed startling. 



Although surprised at the variation this snudl group of fishes had 

 afforded, my delight was increased by securing the otoliths of a hake. 

 (Merlucius vulgaris.) This fish is furnished with an unequally sized pair 

 of still larger dimensions than any yet met with, somewhat after the 

 pattern of those of the whiting, but elaborated. Up to this time 

 some disappointment had been felt that the larger fishes had not 

 otoliths in proportion to their size but this was to be an exception. 

 The ear-bone is particularly thin and brittle, nearly an inch and 

 three-quarters in length, by six-tenths of an inch in its widest part. 

 Viewed from within it is falchion-shaped, or might otherwise be likened 



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