PROLIFIC. 



Class IV. COMMON COD FISH. 237 



cod salted is a delicacy often brought from New- 

 foundland. Isinglass is also made of this part Isinglass. 

 by the Iceland fishermen : as the process may 

 be of service to instruct the natives of the North 

 of Scotland where these fish are plentiful, I beg 

 leave to give it in the Appendix,* extracted 

 from a useful paper on the subject, in the Phi- 

 losophical Transactions of 1773, by Humphi % ey 

 Jackson, Esq. 



Providence hath kindly ordained, that this Vastly 

 fish, so useful to mankind, should be so very 

 prolific as to supply more than the deficiencies 

 of the multitudes annually taken. Leuwenhoek 

 counted nine millions three hundred and eighty- 

 four thousand eggs in a cod fish of a middling 

 size, *a number surely that will baffle all the 

 efforts of man, or the voracity of the inhabitants 

 of the ocean, to exterminate, and which will 

 secure to all ages an inexhaustible supply of 

 grateful provision. 



In our seas they begin to spawn in January, 

 and deposit their eggs in rough ground, among 

 rocks. Some continue in roe till the beginning 

 of April. The cod fish in general recovers quicker 

 after spawning than any other fish, therefore it 

 is common to take some good ones all the 

 summer. When they are out of season they 

 • No. III. 



