BONY FISHES. ORDER II. MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI. 197 
twelve hundred-weight of Haddock are taken to one hundred-weight of 
Codfish in Massachusetts Bay; and in the winter, about twelve hundred- 
weight of Cod to one hundred-weight of Haddock; but, as the Haddock 
fishery is of longer duration, the quantities through the year will average 
about the proportion of three Haddock to one Cod. Large numbers are 
sold in the market; and, during the entire summer, it is generally eaten by 
the poorer classes, who are often able to obtain a fine fish weighing several 
pounds for one or two cents. When taken in larger quantities than they 
can be disposed of in the market, they are frequently strewed over the earth 
for manure. 
“The specimen before me is twenty-four inches in length. Length of the 
head, compared to the whole length of the body, exclusive of the caudal 
rays, as six to twenty inches; depth of the body, across from the anus, less 
than the length of the head. Color, above the lateral line, a dark gray ; 
beneath this line, a beautiful silvery-gray, with a large, and in many speci- 
mens nearly a circular patch, on each side, on a line with the middle of the 
pectorals, its upper portion generally extending above the lateral line, its 
larger portion usually beneath it. Back of the head very convex; gill- 
covers much lighter colored than the top of the head and snout; upper jaw 
projects beyond the lower; teeth in the upper jaw longer than in the lower, 
and nearly vertical; a very minute barbule at the chin; posterior nostril 
much larger than the anterior. Longest diameter of the eye more than one 
sixth the length of the head, pupils black, irides bluish; the distance be- 
tween the eyes equal to nearly one third the length of the head. The 
lateral line, commencing at a distance above the posterior angle of the 
operculum, equal to the length of the head, assumes the curve of the body 
until on a plane with about the middle of the second dorsal fin, from which 
point it runs on in a straight line to the base of the caudal rays; through 
its whole course, it is of a jet-black color.” 
Dr. Storer’s-description of the species is correct ; but, regarding his esti- 
mate of the quality of the flesh, many people entertain a different opinion. 
I consider the Haddock as as far superior to the Cod, in its delicacy and 
wholesomeness, as the chicken is superior to the goose. 
The Haddock figures in the old Norse mythology. When the god Thor 
went in pursuit of Luke to bring him to justice, for encompassing the death 
of Balder the Beautiful, that evil spirit transformed himself into the form, 
or concealed himself in the body, of a Haddock, and sought refuge in the 
abysses of the ocean. The god pursued him to his retreat, marching over 
the oceanic mountains, “as if they were rocks of little size,” and seized the 
offender by the nape; but the cunning and treacherous demon wrigeled 
throuch his fingers, and escaped. The black lateral line, which adorns the 
NO. XVI. 75 
