156 WEESLE GADUS. 



worms, and aquatic insects : it grows to a consider- 

 able size : the largest however of those which are 

 taken in England have been rarely known to exceed 

 the weight of three pounds, but in some parts of 

 Europe they are found of more than double that 

 weight, and of the length of three feet or more. 

 Tlje reputation of this fish as a food has long been 

 established, but its liver is celebrated as an article 

 of peculiar luxury, and we are informed by Aldro- 

 vandus that an old German countess carried her 

 epicurism so far as to expend the greatest part of 

 her income in the purchase of this dish. The gall 

 has been famed, like that of the Stargazer, the 

 Barbel, and some other fishes, for its supposed 

 efficacy in external disorders of the eyes. 



WEESLE GADUS. 



Gadus Mustela. G. cirris quinque vel tribus, pinna dorsali priore 



exoleta. 

 Gadus with either five or three beards, and the first dorsal fin 



incomplete. 

 Gadus Mustela. G. dipterygius cirratus, cirris quinque, pinna 



dorsali priore exoleta. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 440. 

 Gadus Mustela. G. cirris tribus. Block t. 165. 

 Mustela vulgaris Rondeletii. Will, ichth.p. 121. 

 Five-Bearded Cod. Penn. Brit. Zool. 3. Three-Bearded Cod. 



id. 3. 



THIS species appears to admit of two varieties, 

 the one furnished with four beards on the upper lip 

 and one on the lower ; the other with two on the 

 upper and one on the lower. These varieties or, per- 



