

GREAT BRITAIN. 169 



m At first descends slightly, becoming straight beneath 

 the commencement of the second dorsal. Colours. Back 

 gray, becoming lighter on the sides and beneath ; dorsal, 

 anal, and caudal fins edged with white ; a darkish blotch 

 at the posterior end of the first dorsal fin, and a more 

 distinct one at the end of the second dorsal. In the young 

 the back and sides are yellowish-olive, broken up and 

 divided into patterns by pale lilac lines. 



Varieties. Ogilby observes that a variety is common at 

 ortrush, co. Antrim ; " it is of a pale violet colour, irregu- 

 rly mottled with dark purple, almost black spots, and 

 ows to the same size as the usual kind ; it is caught only 

 a particular part of the bank, and is called by the 

 hermen ' spotted-ling.' Similarly spotted ones are taken 

 ff the Cornish coast, and termed 'shipwrights,' due to 

 their supposed resemblance to the spilt pitch on the clothes 

 of these mechanics." 



Habits. A ground fish, preferring deep water and rocky 

 places and caverns. It is very tenacious of life, and sur- 

 vives severe injuries. Mr. Reed took a salmon, 27 inches 

 long, out of a ling 6 feet in length, captured off Wick. 

 Couch found skulpins, Callionymus lyra, and even a " rough- 

 hound " of considerable size, inside a ling. Like the pike 

 of our fresh waters, this fish has the credit, which it appa- 

 rently well deserves, of greedily bolting any sort of foreign 

 substance it comes across. One was captured, some years 

 since, off Brandon Head, county Kerry, inside which was 

 a pewter flask, containing two glasses of ardent spirit. 

 Another was taken on November I7th, 1881, which weighed 

 25 Ibs. ; in the stomach of this fish Mr. Boul, of Consett, 

 found a three-gill bottle, some herrings, and a codling. 

 There were also several pieces of parchment, and bits of 

 sealing-wax, which induce the supposition that the fish had 



