196 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.— CLASS IV. PISCES. 
and fight with one another, with the most desperate fury, for the possession 
of dainty morsels, and continue their warfare with unabated violence, until 
the great Black Sea-gull (Iawk of the Sea) sweeps down among them, 
when they seatter like spray before the tempest. 
The cod on the Grand Banks sometimes exhibit peculiarities, for which, 
to my knowledge, no explanation is given. Schools are not unfrequently 
met with, lean and lank, as if they had just arrived from a great distance, 
without stopping to take rest or food. Others are often taken which have a 
considerable quantity of stones in their stomachs. In regard to this last 
phenomenon, the common opinion among fishermen is that these schools are 
about leaving the Banks, and the stones serve as a ballast to enable them 
more easily to descend into deep water. These fishes always dwell near the 
bottom, and require a comfortable degree of coldness, and, as the summer 
sun warms the northern seas, they naturally seck deeper and consequently 
cooler waters. 
A trip to the Grand Banks generally occupies from ten to twelve weeks, 
often more, rarely less. A “full fare” having been obtained, the vessel 
returns to port, when the salted fish are transferred to the land, spread on 
“flakes,” and carefully dried in the sun. 
Many fishermen now take the cod on the Banks by ¢razls instead of lines. 
These are ropes of great length, with hooks attached along the entire ex- 
tent. Properly baited, they are laid either in a straight line or semicircle 
on the bottom of the sea, and retained there by suitable weights. These 
trawls are visited at intervals, drawn up, commencing at one end, the fish 
removed, if any have been caught, the hooks re-baited, and then they are 
replaced for a new set of victims. 
Nearly every part of the cod is of service to man. The flesh, as an arti- 
cle of food, maintains the first place in the economy of all civilized nations. 
The head fresh, properly cooked, is an exquisite delicacy. The liver sup- 
plies an oil valuable in pulmonary diseases, and in the arts. The gall is a 
powerful alkali, and softens the sea water so that the fishermen can wash 
their clothing in it as easily as if it were taken from the running stream. 
The tongues are well known to commerce, and the “sounds,” besides being 
nutritious as food, furnish the isinglass with which cotton manufacturers 
size their yarn. 
M. cdglefinus. —The Haddock. In his report to the Massachusetts 
Legislature in 1839, Dr. Storer says, — 
“Immense shoals of this fish are found on our coast in the spring, and 
continue through the season until the autumn. Ten years since, this species 
Was comparatively rare at Cape Cod; now, it is almost as common there as 
in any part of our bay. It is estimated that, in the warm season, about 
