178 MALACOPTERYGII. 



" {Alosa communis, Cuv., Yarr.) Shad. — By no means uncommon. It attains 

 a considerable size, the extreme length of the specimen examined being 2 feet 2 

 inches." — Ord. Survey, Derry, p. l.'j. 



In Sampson's L. Derry (1802) it is remarked, p. 343 (8vo edit.), that 



" there is a fish called rock-herring of which the fishermen speak. It is taken 

 singly, not in shoals. I suspect they mean the alosa or shad." 



They may mean this species ; but the name of rock-herring is applied 

 by some persons to the scad, or horse mackerel {Cnraiix Trachurtis), on the 

 coast of Derry and Donegal. It is probably from some confusion about 

 scad and shad that the latter has, in various places, had the name of bony 

 horseman. 



The CoiniON Cod-Fish,* Gadus 3Iorrhia, Linn., 

 Blorrhiia vuli/aris, Cuv., 



Is common around the coast. The principal fishmonger in Belfast con- 

 siders the cod-fish to be in season from November to April. The average 

 weight here is, he says, from 16 to 18 lbs., but he saw one Aveighing 50 

 lbs., and has been told of two taken on Holywood bank (Belfast Bay) 

 which Aveighed 56 and 60 lbs. They were caught on the same day. 



All the living inhabitants of the deep that it can master would seem 

 to be sacrificed to the voracity of the cod, — fishes, Crustacea, star-fishes, mol- 

 lusca, worms, &c., &c., — and I have had proof that they scruple not to 

 consume the young of their oavu species. 



I have ample notes of the food found in many of them ; but they are 

 such indiscriminate feeders, that it seems to me useless to enumerate the 

 species sacrificed by them. The stomachs of some which I examined 

 Avere nearly filled Avith Hermit crabs, all of Avhich had been di'agged from 

 the shells they inhabited, as these latter Avere not in the stomach ; in one 

 instance a large shell of the Fusus dcspectus did occur to me in a cod. 



Mr. Sinclaire has frequently, at Ballantrae, seen fine full-grown herrings 

 taken from cod-fish : Avhen uninjured for food, they are very Avisely used 

 by the people there for that purpose, the children especially attending the 

 cutting up of the cod-fish, that they might get the herrings contained in 

 them to carry off to their homes. 



Rock-cod is a mere A'ariety of the common species, inhabiting rocky 

 localities (as the name rock-cod denotes), and of a reddish brown colour; 

 a fact of Avhich I have myself had evidence on different parts of the coast 

 of the Brit. Islands. Pennant remarks, in note to p. 239, " Codlings 

 are often taken of a yelloAV, orange, and even red colour, Avhile they re- 

 main among the rocks, but on changing their place assume the colour of 

 other cod-fish." 



The rock-cod is considered good at all seasons, owing perhaps to its 

 preying more on Crustacea than the cod frequenting different feeding 

 grounds. 



I have found specimens of the common cod, agreeing so with the de- 

 scription of Gadus 2iunctatus, Turt., as to satisfy me that this is not dis- 

 tinct from it. 



March 3, 1840. I obtained from Belfast Bay a singularly malformed 

 cod, similar to that figured by Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 229. Its length was 22 

 inches, colour as usual in the common cod. A month afterwards, I saw 



* Commonly knoAA'n by the name of cod : the young are called codling. A 

 fisherman at Portaferry remarked to me that it there bore three names, viz. cod- 

 Ihif/ Avhen young, buddagh Avhcn middle-sized, and cod-fsh Avhen adult. 



