202 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



a dried state, although the name of Poor John, by 

 which it is known in many places, does not say 

 much for the value sometimes set upon it. It is 

 this species and the common Cod, when dried and 

 salted for exportation, to which the name of Stock- 

 fish is usually applied. The term is said to be 

 derived from a German phrase, literally meaning 

 stick-fish, because they are extended on sticks in 

 order to be dried. When long kept, they become 

 very hard, and it is therefore the custom, before 

 cooking them, to beat them smartly with a mallet, 

 to bruise and separate the fibres. It is from this 

 practice that we derive the common phrase, " to 

 beat one like a stock fish." 



The geographical range of the Hake, seems to 

 be extensive in all directions ; northwards, to Scan- 

 dinavia, Greenland, &c. ; southwards, the Medi- 

 terranean and Madeira; westwards, the shores of 

 America. In stating that it occurs in the Mediter- 

 ranean, we do not overlook the fact, that although 

 Cuvier regards the Hake of that inland sea as 

 identical with our northern fish, Mr. Swainson con- 

 tends that it is distinct, and applies to it the name 

 of M. sinuatus. In reference to this circumstance, 

 Mr. Yarrell regrets that Mr. Swainson has merely 

 given a figure of his fish, without mentioning its 

 characters ; inadvertently overlooking the fact, that 

 he has supplied a description in the Appendix to 

 his second volume (page 390). There, however, he 

 still relies on the sinuosity of the dorsal and anal fins 

 as the principal character, and he was probably, in 



