514 THE POOR AND THE COMMON WHITING. 



to be a new species, and has figured it as such; but 

 Nilsson seems to consider it as a mere variety of the 

 Bib. Hitherto this fish does not appear to have been 

 met with on tlie coasts of Denmark. Nothing is known 

 of its habits. 



The Poor, or Power Coti {Glys-Torsk, Glys-Kolja, Sw. ; 

 Kolje, Norw. ; Gachts minutus, Linn.), is pretty common 

 in the Bolius Skiirgard and the Cattegat, as also on the 

 coast of Norway, as far up at least as Bergen ; but in the 

 Sound it is somewhat rare, and though Bloch tells us it 

 inhabits the Baltic, yet Swedish and Danish naturalists 

 are altogether disbelievers on that point. It is the 

 smallest of the genus Gadus, its usual length being from 

 six to eight inches, and seldom exceeding ten. Its chief 

 resorts are deep water, where the bottom is sandy, and 

 in the near vicinity of precipitous, rocky ground. Ac- 

 cording to the fisliermen, it remains in much the same 

 locality all tlie year round. It lives on small prey, chiefly 

 crustaceans — such as Idotea, Gammariis, &c. — and mol- 

 luscs. Little seems known of its breeding habits. 

 Swedish ichthyologists imagine that it holds its Lek in 

 the spring, but Danish authorities say June. Its flesh, 

 in Sweden at least, is not much esteemed, but in Norway 

 is said to be better liked. 



The Common Whiting {HvUl'mg, ■ Sw. ; Whittling, 

 Norw. ; HvklUng, Dan. ; Gadus Merlangus, Linn.) was 

 very common with us, and elsewhere on the western 

 coast, as high up, according to Kroyer, as the near 

 vicinity of the North Cape itself. It is also an inhabitant 

 of the more southern portion of the Baltic. Though 

 properly speaking a sea-fish, it would not seem inimical to 

 fresh water. I myself, at least, have known numbers to 

 be taken with the rod and line from one of the Gothenburg 

 bridges, where the w^ater is altogether free from salt. 

 Its usual length is from eight to fourteen inches, but it 



