3 o 4 THE COD. 



muddy shores being nearly black, and those which prefer the sand taking a yellower 

 hue. Generally the eyes and the color are on the right side, but reversed specimens 

 are very common, and in some instances the fish has been entirely white or wholly 

 brown. The average weight of the Flounder is three or four pounds. 



ONE or two other examples of the British flat fishes deserve a passing notice. 



The COMMON DAB (Platessa limanda} is plentiful upon all the sandy coasts of Great 

 Britain, and may at once be recognized by the roughness of its surface, or structure, 

 which has gained for it the specific title of limanda, or file-backed the Latin word 

 lima signifying a file. Its flesh is very good, and is thought to be in best condition 

 from the end of January to April. Its color is pale brown, and its length seldom 

 exceeds eight inches. Three or four other species of this genus are known on the 

 British coasts. 



A VERY large species of flat fish, the HOLIBUT (Hippoglossus vulgdris), is also captured 

 off our shores, but the specimens which are exhibited in the London markets are 

 usually brought from the northern fisheries. The flesh is tolerably good, but is rather 

 dry and without much flavor. It is rather longer in proportion to its width than is 

 generally the case among flat fishes. Its color is brown of different shades, and the 

 surface smooth, the small oval-shaped scales which cover it being soft and without 

 projections. This fish attains a large size, specimens of five feet in length not being 

 uncommon. The largest example on record measured above seven feet in length, and 

 weighed more than three hundred pounds. 



THE well-known COD-FISH is a native of many seas, and in some localities is found 

 in countless legions. 



This most useful fish is captured in vast numbers at certain seasons of the year, and 

 is always taken with the hook and line. The lines are of two descriptions, namely the 

 long lines to which a great number of short lines are attached, and the simple hand- 

 lines which are held by the fishermen. The long lines sometimes run to an extraordi- 

 nary length, and shorter lines, technically called snoods, are affixed to the long line at 

 definite distances. Whatever may be the length of the snoods, they are fastened at 

 intervals of double their length, so as to guard against the entanglement of the hooks. 

 For example, if the snoods are six feet long, they are placed twelve feet apart on the 

 line : if four feet long, eight feet apart, and so on. 



To the end of each snood is attached a baited hook, and as the sharp teeth of the 

 fish might sever a single line, the portion of the snood which is near the hook is com- 

 posed of a number of separate threads fastened loosely together, so as to permit the 

 teeth to pass between the strands. At each end of the long line is fastened a float or 

 buoy, and when the hooks have been baited with sand launce, limpets, whelks, and 

 similar substances, the line is ready for action. 



The boat, in which the line is ready coiled, makes for the fishing-place, lowers a 

 grapnel or small anchor, to which is attached the buoy at one end of the line, and the 

 vessel then sails off, paying out the line as it proceeds, and always " shooting " the line 

 across the tide, so as to prevent the hooks from being washed against each other, or 

 twisted round the line, which is usually shot in the interval between the ebb and flow 

 of the tide, and hauled in at the end of about six hours. 



As soon as the long line has been fairly shot, and both ends firmly affixed to the 

 grapnels, the fishermen improve the next six hours by angling with short lines, one of 

 which is held in each hand. They thus capture not only Cod-fish, but haddock, whiting, 

 hake, pollack, and various kinds of flat fishes. On favorable occasions the quantity of 

 fish captured by a single boat is very great, one man having taken more than four 

 hundred Cod alone in ten hours. 



The Cod is a most uncertain fish in its habits, sometimes haunting the same locality 

 for a number of successive years, and then suddenly leaving it and repairing to some spot 

 where not a fish might be found on the preceding year. New fishing-grounds are fre- 

 quently discovered, and it sometimes happens that the fishermen are fortunate enough to 



