1-78 THE COD. 



Genus XXII. The Cod'^, 



"1 HIS genus contains a very numerous, and well known 

 tribe of fifties, a confiderable part of which frequent the 

 Britijl? coafts, apd contribute more largely to the fub- 

 fiftence of the inhabitants of Europe^ than any of thofe 

 families which we have hitherto reviewed. Their gene- 

 ral characters are, a fmooth head j fcven {lender branch!- 

 oftegous rays ; an oblong body, covered with fmall de- 

 ciduous fcalcs. The number and fituation of the fins are 

 various ; the teeth are fmall, and numerous, placed up- 

 on each jaw, and in the upper part of the mouth f. 



The ftated migrations of moll of the filli that compofe 

 this genus, is one of the mod .remarkable circumflances 

 in their hiftory : in thefe annual voyages, in the imraen- 

 fity of their numbers, and in their focial habits, they bear 

 a llrong analogy to birds of paflage. The cod, the had- 

 dock, and the whiting, iffue forth in immenfe flioals from 

 the artic feas, very early in the fpring, and after having 

 difperfed over the temperate latitudes, again regularly 

 return to their northern retreats about the fame time of 

 the year. The necefiity of procuring food has been af- 

 figned as the caufe of their annual migrations from the 

 artic feas ; and their retreat thither has been afcribed to 

 the fecurity that thefe unfrequented trails are fuppofed 

 to afford them, while they depofite their fpawn. 



But 



* Afellus Major Vulgaris, Willough. Gadus Mcrhua, Lin. Syft, 

 t Britifh Zool. clafs iv. gen. ip. 



