THE COD FAMILY 



297 



fin-rays appear they can be recognised by the arrangement of the 

 fins. Specimens in these stages, f inch, f inch, and 4 inch long, 

 were taken off the Isle of May (Fig. 135) in July and August. 

 They were captured in a large tow-net in mid-water, or not far 

 from the surface, and it appears from this that for about the first 

 two months of its life the young ling resembles in its habits the 



Fig. 134. — Larva of Ling thirteen days old, alive and magnified ; after Prince. 



young of the rocklings. The next stage seen was that of a 

 specimen 3^ inches long, stranded on the shore in December. 

 In this, the chief peculiarity was that the colour was in stripes 

 along the body, an olive-brown band passing along the side, a 

 white band above this, and a narrow line of dull orange along the 

 middle of the back. The barbel was long. The history of the 

 ling after this stage is not well known. Specimens from /f to 12 



Fig. 135. — Transformation stage of the Ling, i inch long ; after Prince. 



inches long occur not uncommonly off the mouth of the harbour 

 at St. Andrews, and are caught by line fishermen in the neigh- 

 bourhood. At this stage the stripes are broken up into large 

 irregular blotches. These small fish occur in summer, and are 

 about a year old. During the Irish Survey, of 203 ling caught 

 only six were under 24 inches in length, and these occurred at 



