HADDOCK. 65 



side, which is lighter in the middle, stretches down from the 

 lateral line. The Haddock of which a figure is given (PI. 19) 

 in Fries and Eckstrom's "Skandinavian Fishes," is so unlike 

 the British species as to raise the suspicion that they may be 

 specifically dilTerent; and the same may be said of the Pollack. 

 Naturalists of former days were persuaded that the names 

 Onos, in Greek, and Asinus, (the ass,) Avere the proper desig- 

 nations of this fish in ancient times; and when we examine 

 the colour it usually bears, coupled with the distinguishing 

 stripe at the shoulders, we scarcely feel surprised that the 

 excellent naturalist. Turner, in the age of Queen Elizabeth, 

 and the still more eminent Ray, should countenance this opinion. 

 But it happens unfortunately for this idea that the Haddock 

 is not found in the Mediterranean, and therefore could not 

 have fallen under the observation of the Greeks, from whom 

 the appellation was borrowed by the Romans, as applied to 

 a species with which both these people were acquainted. To 

 a kindred fish therefore this name must have been first applied; 

 and in the Hake we shall find sufficient likeness of colour to 

 the terrestrial animal, to warrant the comparison by a people 

 of whom we are constantly reminded that with them a distant 

 resemblance was sufficient to constitute a likeness that would 

 authorize a name; but whether this Hake of the Mediterranean 

 is the same Avith that known among ourselves remains yet to 

 he determined. 



VOL IIL 



