138 FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Phycis. Artedi. 



Generic characters. Body elongated ; two dorsal fins, the 

 first short, the second long ; ventral fins with a single ray only 

 at the base, afterward divided. ; chin with one harhnle. 



P. Americaiius. Schn. The American Hake. 

 Ti-aus. Lit ct Philosoph. Soc. N. Y. vol. i. p. 372. 



I have no means of seeing the description of this species by 

 Schneider; but as Cuvier, in the notes to his '■'• Regne Ani- 

 tnal,^'' observes that Schneider's " Enchelyopus Americaniis,''^ 

 and Mitchell's ^^Gadas longipes,^^ are the same fish, I do not 

 hesitate to admit the priority of the specific name of the former. 

 Deceived in my early investigations of our fishes by the plates 

 of the '' Phycis farcatiis,''^ a species taken in the ocean and 

 pretty generally diffused, and the ^-Gadns longipes^'' of Mitch- 

 ell, I had supposed the species I am about to describe, as the 

 Phycis, and accordingly catalogued it as such in the first vol- 

 ume of the " Boston Journal of Natural History." At that 

 time Mitchell's description was not at my command, to com- 

 pare with the fish itself, and I was compelled to depend upon 

 his plate. Further research has convinced me of the folly of 

 relying upon plates alone in ichthyology, as well as in the other 

 branches of natural history. Mitchell called it the ''Codliiig.'" 

 As it is generally known by our fishermen as the " Hake,^^ I 

 have prefixed that name. 



Large numbers of this species are taken between the first of 

 June and the first of September, on muddy bottoms, between 

 Cape Ann and Boston light-house. They are generally taken 

 in the night with the liook ; sometimes 2000 weight, varying 

 in size from 3 to 30 pounds or more, are taken in a single night 

 by one man, where scarcely a specimen was captured during 

 the previous day. 



From a fine specimen three feet in length, weighing nine 

 pounds, I have made the following description : General color 

 of the upper portion of the fish, grayish brown ; beneath, 



