FISHES. 269 



Etymology is a dangerous tool to handle, although a very valuable one, and authors 

 are not agreed upon the subject. Skeat, for example, remarks that he supposes that 

 " the word cod must be the same as the middle English codde or cod, a husk, bag, 

 bolster ; though the resemblance of the fish to a bolster is but fanciful. It is obvious 

 that Shakespeare knew nothing of the Linnaean name Gadics (Greek, yiiiJos), nor is 

 the derivation of cod from gadiis at all satisfactory." We leave the choice of the 

 etymologies to the reader, simply reiterating the dictum of Mr. Skeat that "the 

 resemblance of the fish to a bolster is but fanciful," with the hint that the cod must 

 have been known before the bolster. Some vagaries of etymologists as to the names 

 of fishes have already been referred to (e. g., see John Dory, p. 208). 



The home of the cod-fish is in the cold waters of the entire northern hemisphere, 

 and far into the arctic circle. The authority of Mr. Goode shall guide us for details. 

 " In the western Atlantic, the species occurs in the winter in considerable abundance 

 as far south as the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, latitude 37°, and stragglers have been 

 observed about Ocracoke Inlet. The southern limits of the species may safely be 

 considered to be Cape Hatteras, in latitude 35° 10'. Along the coast of the Middle 

 States, New England, and British North America, and upon all the off-shore banks of 

 this region, cod are found usually in great abundance, during part of the year, at least. 

 They have been observed also in the Gulf of Boothia, latitude 70° to 75°, and in the 

 southeastern part of Baffin's Land to the northward of Cumberland Sound, and it is 

 more than probable that they occur in the waters of the Arctic Sea to the north of 

 the American continent, or away around to Bering's Straits." Its range in the 

 North Pacific has not been equally well ascertained. It appears, however, " to occur 

 in the same abundance on all the off-shore banks of this region, and also close to the 

 coasts to the north of the Straits of Fuca. According to Jordan, there is said to be 

 a cod-bank outside of the mouth of the Columbia, but the species, at present, is of no 

 economical importance south of Alaska." . 



The ocean banks of moderate depths are the favorite resorts of the cod, but it is 

 by no means confined to those localities. The fish, indeed, occasionally enters into 

 fresh, or at least brackish, water. According to Canadian authorities, it is found 

 " well up the estuary of the Saint Lawrence, though how far up is not definitely 

 stated, probably not beyond the limits of brackish water." Even as far south as the 

 Delaware River it has been known to enter the stream. Dr. C. C. Abbott records 

 that in January, 1876, "a healthy, strong, active cod-fish, weighing nearly four pounds, 

 was taken in a draw-net in the Delaware River, near Trenton, New Jersey; the stom- 

 ach of the fish showed that it had been in river-water several days. Many of them 

 had been taken about Philadelphia between 1856 and 1869." 



The cod ranks among the most voracious of ordinary fishes ; and almost everything 

 that is eatable, and some that is not, may find its way into its capacious maw. Years 

 ago, before naturalists had the facilities that the dredge now affords, cods' stomachs 

 were the favorite resort for rare shells, and some species had never been obtained 

 otherwise than through such a medium, while many filled the cabinet that would not 

 otherwise have been represented. In the words of Mr. Goode, "cod-fish swallow 

 bivalve fish of the lai-gest size, like the great searclams, which are a favorite article of 

 food on certain portions of the coast;" further, "these shells are 'nested,' the 

 smaller inside of the larger, sometimes six or seven in a set, having been packed 

 together in this compact manner in the stomachs of the cod-fish after the soft parts 

 have been digested out. Some of them had shreds of the muscles remaining in them, 



