LING. 119 



ground at the same time as one is fishing for 

 conger, and generally forms a portion of the night's 

 capture. The ling is very prolific and of tre- 

 mendous appetite, eating any living thing, not 

 excepting its own young, swallowing its food 

 whole. Thus they are very easily caught ; they are 

 very tenacious of life, as the following circum- 

 stance will show: " I once," says Mr. Crouch, 

 " saw a ling that had swallowed the usual large 

 hook, shaft foremost, of which the point had fixed 

 in the stomach, and as the line drew it, it turned 

 round, entered the opposite side of the stomach, 

 and fastened the organ together in complicated 

 folds; yet, having escaped by breaking the line, 

 it survived to swallow another hook, and be taken 

 some days after/' 



The ling is generally about four feet, but some 

 are said to have been seen seven feet in length, 

 and seventy pounds in weight. 



