III. COTTOIDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 67 



in which its discovery took place we have already related. 1 In opening the stomach 

 of the Ling (Lota maculosa], the fishermen of Oswego finding it almost constantly 

 filled with that fish, had entertained the erroneous opinion that the Ling swallowed 

 its progeny. Professor Baird, who visited that place in 1850, and heard the story, 

 secured specimens, which at once enabled him to recognize in them a fish new to 

 science although half digested, the skin and the fins in most cases destroyed. In 

 that state, when the head and body alone have preserved their shape, the elonga- 

 tion of the former, and the tapering away of the latter, may remind superficial 

 observers of the elongated head and the tapering body of Lota maculosa. 



It is hoped that persons living in the vicinity of Oswego, will feel interested 

 enough in the subject to secure to science complete specimens, and gather some 

 information respecting its habits and home at large. 



Its food consists chiefly of shrimps, of a species yet undescribed, as far as we have 

 been enabled to ascertain by the examination of the remains in a very soft condi- 

 tion. 



Attention should be directed on all the fishing-grounds of the Ling, to the con- 

 tents of the stomachs of this fish, as at present the only way known of procuring 

 Triglopsis. By this means, at least, we should become acquainted with its geo- 

 graphic distribution; for mere remains, when they cannot be mistaken, are always 

 sufficient to establish its occurrence at any given place, should complete and fresh 

 specimens escape all researches. 



1 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. History, iv., 1851, p. 18. 



