54 COD. 



Their food is sought for on the ground, as is the case 

 generally with fishes that are furnished with a barb below the 

 chin; which organ is not a mere appendage, but by dissection 

 is known to be supplied with a special nerve of considerable 

 size, by which it is rendered so sensitive that on some occasions 

 it appears to serve as a substitute for the absence of another 

 chief oi'gan of perception. I possess the note of a Cod of 

 full growth which had swallowed a bait to be taken with a 

 line, and which bore the appearance of being well fed, but 

 Avhich was altogether without eyes; and from the structure of 

 the skin Avhich covered the sockets there seemed no reason 

 to suppose that it had ever enjoyed the benefit of possessing 

 these organs. This appendage must therefore have Avell 

 performed the office of a substitute, in conformity with the 

 observations of Sir Charles Bell, in his Bridgewater Treatise 

 on the Hand, (p. 48,j where he says, that by an anatomical 

 investigation and experiment, he had discovered that the sensi- 

 bility of all the head, and of its various appendages, is derived 

 from one nerve only of the ten which are enumerated as 

 arising from the brain, and are distributed within and around 

 the head; and pursuing the subject by the aid of comparative 

 anatomy, he found that a nerve corresponding to this, Avhich 

 is the fifth nerve in man, served a similar purpose in all the 

 lower animals. In creatures which are 'covered with feathers 

 or scales, or protected by shell, this nerve becomes almost 

 the sole organ of sensibility. It is the development of this 

 nerve that gives sensibility to the cirri which hang about the 

 mouths of fishes. We may add that this fifth pair of nerves 

 is represented in Monro's twenty-first plate of the Anatomy 

 and Physiology of Fishes. The nerves of smelling also are 

 well marked in these fishes, and derive their origin on each 

 side from a round ganglion which is connected with the brain 

 by a lengthened cord. The last-named writer also represents 

 the organ of hearing as being distinctly recognised; so that the 

 exercise of every sense is well provided for. We shall find 

 more to remark on this subject when we speak of the genus 

 Motdla, an aberrant form of the Gadoid family. 



The Cod, thus supplied with the organs of sensation, is one 

 of the most voracious of fishes, and on most occasions appears 

 to feed indiscriminately. Yet there is proof that it exercises 

 decided preference for particular objects; so that it is not only 



