TORSK, OR TUSK. 199 



land after a storm. Its flesh is hard, but well flavoured. 

 In Iceland seldom dried, but eaten fresh, Jan Olsen says 

 that the fresh flesh is badly tasted, but when dried it is the 

 best food. In Norway it is treated like the Stockfish, but 

 forms no branch of merchandise. The hard roe, according 

 to Pontoppidan, has a good flavour. Its enemies are the 

 larger species of Cod. It is much infested by a worm which 

 forms a nidus in its skin, and produces rounded swellings." 



The description of this fish by Mr. Low is here adopted, 

 with slight modification. The measurements of the specimen 

 from which this description was taken were the following : — 

 " The whole length twenty inches and a half : the greatest 

 breadth four and a half, which was taken at the end of the 

 pectoral fin ; at the vent four inches ; something more than 

 half-way from the vent to the tail, two inches ; at the tail, 

 one inch and a quarter : the length of the head four inches ; 

 from the point of the nose to the commencement of the dorsal 

 fin, six inches ; length of the dorsal fin thirteen inches ; 

 from the point of the lower jaw to the vent, eleven inches ; 

 length of the anal fin, eight inches ; tail something more 

 than two inches." 



" The head small in proportion to the fish, with a single 

 barbule under the chin : the upper jaw very little longer than 

 the lower ; in the jaws there are great numbers of very small 

 teeth, and in the roof of the mouth a rough or toothed bone, 

 much in the shape of a horse-shoe ; a pretty broad furrow 

 runs from the nape to the commencement of the dorsal fin, 

 which runs the whole length of the back to within about an 

 inch of the tail ; the tail is rounded ; the anal fin begins at 

 the vent and ends at the tail, but is not joined ynih it ; the 

 rays of the dorsal and anal fins are numerous, but the soft- 

 ness of these and the thickness of the investing skin hinder 

 them from being counted with exactness : the edges of the 



