16 FISH CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
Mr. MorGcan.—Will the carp take the hook ? 
Mr. RoosevELT.—We read of its doing so in Walton and the 
older angling books ; modern books do not say much about it. 
THe SECRETARY then read a paper by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, 
entitled, A Contribution to the Biography of the Commercial 
Cod of Alaska: 
‘The codfishery of Alaska has nearly ended its second decade, 
yet we did not know positively until the summer of 1880 what 
species is the object of that fishery. Most writers have referred 
to it under the name of Gadus macrocephalus, which was created 
by Tilesius for the Kamtchatkan cod, the figure of which sug- 
gests that it was based upon a deformed individual. Cope, in 
1873, described the young of the common Alaska cod as Gadus 
auratus, from specimens collected by Prof. George Davidson, at 
Unalashka. Steindachner, in the Proceedings (S7tzungsbertchte) of 
the Vienna Academy, |xi., 1, 1870, adopts the name G. macroce- 
phalus for a large cod taken in Decastris Bay; in this example 
the length to the head is contained exactly three times in the 
length of the extreme end of the pointed caudal peduncle. The 
same proportion may, however, be found in any place where 
large numbers of Gadus morrhua are taken, and it is only a mat- 
ter of individual variation. The Commissioner of Fish and 
Fisheries, Prof. S. F. Baird, with a view to investigating the fish- 
eries and the fish of Alaska, sent the writer to that territory to 
collect specimens and statistics during the summer of 1880, 
Thus an opportunity was gained for comparing the Alaskan 
‘cod directly with that of New Engiand and of Europe, and 
for determining that the commercial cod of both oceans is 
the Gadus morrhua of Linnzus. I have not seen the species 
from Kamtchatka, but there is no probability that it is differ- 
ent from the Alaskan. It is a matter of daily experience 
to find long-headed and short-headed cod in the same school 
off the New England coast, the length of the head being one 
of the most variable characters. <A series of cod showing just 
such variation, has lately been received from Alaska by the Na- 
tional Museum. 
