G A D O 1 D JE. 



561 



heat should be received into the cask, a cloth being 

 placed on the top to confine both , but the flame 

 ought not to rise so as to scorch them. In this way 

 they should be done slowly, and the action of the 

 smoke so hardens the surface, that not a drop of 

 the juice escapes. When properly done, the know- 

 ledge of which is a matter ot experience, and can- 

 not be explained in words, they are to be removed 

 from the cask, the heads separated without touching 

 the bodies, and these rolled up closely in clean 

 cloths, only one in a cloth, great care to be taken 

 not to press or break them, and they ought to be 

 eaten while hot. The spurious ones, which are sent 

 to a distance, are more or less salted, and exposed to 

 the air, and they are merely smoked, without being 

 cooked, as is the case with those that are genuine. 

 These last can of course be obtained only at very 

 particular parts of the coast ; and of those places 

 where the fish themselves can be had, there are only 

 a few w here the art of dressing them in the best style 

 is known. 



Like the cod, the haddock is a gregarious fish, and 

 if the fishermen find any upon a particular fishing 

 ground, they in general make sure of finding num- 

 bers. They are, however, much more discursive and 

 capricious than cod, and by no means so true to their 

 grounds for a succession of seasons ; though they are 

 understood to be much more true to the haunts in 

 the clear and deep water near the shores, than they 

 are upon the margins of the out-at-sea banks, where 

 their pastures border on those of the cod. The 

 reason of the two not being found in abundance in 

 the same localities is understood to be that the cod 

 prey upon the haddocks, which is not at all unlikely, 

 as cod are exceedingly voracious, have a very capaci- 

 ous swallow, and are miscellaneous in their eating 

 oven to the degree of preying upon each other. 

 We need not be surprised at this, however ; for the 

 males of many of the mammalia are prone to devour 

 the young, nor are there wanting among them 

 instances in which the female makes a meal of her 

 own offspring. The haddock is not quite so voracious 

 as the cod ; but still it has not much to boast of on the 

 score of abstemiousness. 



THE TORSK (G. callarias) is a medium sized species, 

 a native of the northern seas, and found most abund- 

 antly in the Baltic, especially near the mouths of the 

 great rivers. It is spotted all over, and is very much 

 esteemed for the table. It has been mentioned as a 

 British fish ; but the fact of its being so is a little 

 doubtful, at least no specimen has, so far as we know, 

 been seen of late years, or indeed since the species 

 of fishes were so well made out, and discriminated as 

 they are now. The fact of its being found at the 

 mouths of the rivers in the Baltic, where the water 

 contains very little salt, is rather against its being 

 met with in the open ocean, or in any part of the 

 British seas, except as an accidental stray. 



THE BIB (G. luscuii) is a small species, not more 

 than a foot in length, which is occasionally met with 

 in the British seas, but is by no means common, nor 

 does it appear to be abundant or of frequent occur- 

 rence in any locality. When it does occur as a 

 British species, it is, however, found indiscriminately 

 on the most northerly and the most southerly shores 

 Its colour is olive on the back and silvery on the 

 under part. The first ray of each ventral fin is pro- 

 duced in a sort of bristle-shaped elongation. The 

 body is broad but flattened on the sides ; the ex- 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. II. 



remity of the caudal fin is nearly square across ; 

 here is a membrane which partially covers the eyes; 

 he jaws have only a single row of teeth curved 

 nv.'ards into the mouth ; and the scales are larger 

 than on most of the genus. Its flesh is reckoned 

 .vholesome and good ; but so little is known of its 

 manners that we are unable to say whether it is or is 

 not gregarious. 



THE POUT (G. barbatns) is about the same size as 

 the last mentioned species, and like that it is rare on 

 the British coasts ; but in appearance and colour it 

 is different. Its back is much arched and the whole 

 body high in proportion to the thickness. Its general 

 colour is dull white, with the fins black, and a dark 

 spot behind the pectoral fins. The first dorsal fin is 

 of a three-cornered shape, with the first ray produced 

 in a sort of fibrous appendage ; and the caudal fin is 

 squared over at the end. The scales on the body are 

 very small ; the back is furnished with a sort of keel 

 or ridge ; the lateral line is broad, curved, and of a 

 white colour. The mouth is much smaller in pro- 

 portion to to the size of the fish than in most others 

 of the genus ; and the lower jaw is marked with a 

 row of punctures, seven or eight in number. The 

 English fishermen call it the " whiting pout." It is 

 but little esteemed as food, and probably upon this 

 account it is not seen in proportion to the numbers 

 in which it actually exists. It occurs in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and also in the more northerly seas ; and is 

 understood to inhabit at considerable depths, and 

 to hide itself in the thick beds of sea-weeds. 



THE POOR (G. mimitus) is a small species, about 

 half a foot in length, and very slender in the body ; 

 light brown on the upper part, and whitish on the 

 under. The lateral line is very narrow and straight. 

 It is found in the Gulf of Venice, the Mediterranean, 

 and the Atlantic, where it resides in the deep waters 

 during the winter months, but comes to the shores 

 in the spring. In itself it is of little or no value ; but 

 its appearance is, on some of the coasts, hailed with 

 joy by the fishermen, who, upon its coming, prepare 

 for the capture of the larger and more valuable 

 species of the genus, w hich appear soon after it, and 

 appear to follow it and feed upon it, which brings them 

 near to the land. 



The species which we have now enumerated are 

 the principal and most valuable of those which con- 

 stitute the sub-genus Cod, properly so called, with 

 those systematists who sub-divide the family into 

 sections ; and the sub-genus is styled Morhua, from 

 the trivial name of the common cod. We shall now 

 proceed to the other sections, still retaining the com- 

 mon generic name Gadus, as the family are all 

 nearly allied to each other. 



But before we do this there are a few observations 

 in supplement to this division which may not be un- 

 interesting to the reader, some of which refer to the 

 common cod, and others to this division or to the 

 family generally ; and the great value of these fishes 

 renders every thing that can tend to illustrate their 

 character of considerable public interest. 



Of the common cod, there appear to be three 

 varieties in the British seas ; but whether the differ- 

 ences have or have not been wholly produced by 

 locality and nature of ground, we have not the means 

 of ascertaining. The southern cod, that which is 

 found on the banks off the English coast from the 

 Spurn to Kent, and which also occurs in the Eng- 

 lish Channel, though not so abundantly, appears to 

 N N 



