294 THE WHITING. [CHAP. vn. 



or stones as may be convenient. After this process has been 

 gone through the fish are then collected into little heaps, which 

 are technically called steeples. When the lloom, or whitish 

 appearance which after a time they assume, comes out on the 

 dried fish the process is finished, and they are then quite 

 ready for market. The consumption of dried cod or ling is 

 very large, and extends over the whole globe ; vast quantities 

 are prepared for the religious communities of Continental 

 Europe, who make use of it on the fast-days instituted by the 

 Koman Catholic Church. 



Besides the common cod, there are the dorse (M. callarias), 

 and the poor or power cod (M. minuta), also the bib or pout 

 (M. lusca). 



The whiting (Merlangus vulgaris) is another of our deli- 

 cious table-fishes, which is found in comparative plenty on the 

 British coasts. This fish is by some thought to be superior to 

 all the other Gadidre. Very little is known of its natural his- 

 tory. It deposits its spawn in March, and the eggs are not 

 long in hatching about forty days, I think, varying, however, 

 with the temperature of the season. Before and after shedding 

 its milt or roe the whiting is out of condition, and should not 

 be taken for a couple of months. The whiting prefers a sandy 

 bottom, and is usually found a few miles from the shore, its 

 food being much the same as that of other fishes of the family 

 to which it belongs. It is a smallish fish, usually about twelve 

 inches long, and on the average two pounds in weight. 



I need scarcely refer to the other members of the Gadidse : 

 they are numerous and useful, but, generally speaking, their 

 characteristics are common and have been sufficiently de- 

 tailed.* I will now, therefore, say a few words about the 



* A correspondent has favoured me with the following brief account 

 of the sillock-fishing as carried on in Shetland : " Sillocks are the young 

 of the saith, and they make their appearance in the beginning of 

 August about the small isles, and are of the size of parrs in Tweed. 



