SPECIMENS FOR THE HANpD-LINE COMMITTEE. 495 
light gray above it. Light gray fins, with which it is ad- 
mirably furnished for great fleetness. The scales are infini- 
tesimal. The flavor of the fish is remarkably delicate, tender, 
and sweet, without bones to trouble the epicure. 
= 
Tue Line. 
This is a congener of the cod and haddock, belonging also 
to the Gadide family. It is a commercial fish, and taken on 
the hand-line when fishing for cods, with menhaden, capelin, 
spearing, or smelt as baits. It is a common coast fish, all 
the way from Nantucket to the Georgian Bay. 
Gurnarv.—Genus Trigla, Yarrell. 
This is a harbor channel fish, vulgarly known as the sea- 
robin, because it croaks like a tree-toad. It is without scales, 
but the top of its head and gill-edges are armed with prickly 
bones, besides its spiked dorsals. Its long pectoral fins are 
like wings; and when lifted from the water, in lieu of a beau- 
tiful kingfish or sea bass, the angler can hardly repress a 
hard word for the bait-thief, which costs the anglers about 
New York several thousand dollars annually for the bait it 
