232 iTATUEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC Al^lMALS. 



set in to the SUetlaud bays iu immeuse and closely congregated shoals, from which they are swept 

 ashore by nets in enormous quantities, and are often bought by the farmer for the dunghill. At 

 this season they fall off in quality as an article of food, but are still eagerly purchased by the coun- 

 try people on account of the oil, which suits better for their cottage lamps than any other kind. 

 Next year, when nine or ten inches long, they are called Cooths, or Cuths, and are caught with the 

 fly in the months of May, June, July, and August. In June and July they are in perfection for 

 eating, and are cooked without taking out the entrails, after being rolled in salt and flour, or oat- 

 meal, and done on the gridiron; but unless used within an hour or two after being caught, the fine 

 flavor and curdy quality of the fish quickly disappear. If used next day they are somewhat coarse 

 eating. It is a singular circumstance that they will not take the fly except an hour before or an 

 hour after sunset and sunrise. In the third summer they become larger, and are called Cuttims, or 

 Guddons, in which state they betake themselves to deeper water, and are comparatively seldom 

 caught. After this, when full grown, they are known by the name of Saith, and become an 

 important object of fishery. The fishing commences in May, and continues till September. In 

 July aiid August they are in their best state, and are sought after with great assiduity. They 

 chiefly occur in very rapid tideways, where there is much broken water, and the fishing is not 

 unattended with danger, several fatal accidents having occurred within my recollection by the 

 boats having been swept by the current into the breakers. The fish average from fifteen to 

 twenty pounds, but many specimens are met with weighing much more. When cleaned and 

 thoroughly dried on the rocks, about seventeen will weigh one hundredweight, and yield three 

 gallons of oil, which -is equivalent to 340 fish and sixty gallons of oil to the ton. The dried article 

 sells at market for about £12 per ton, when Codfish fetch £20 per ton, but the extra quantity of oil 

 in the former far more than compensates for the difference in price, and consequently when a 

 shoal of Saith sets in, the fishermen invariably desert the cod-fishing in favor of the other. Dried 

 Saith are perfectly well known in the market, and are tolerably good eating, though inferior to 

 Cod. The oil is chiefly used by tanners, and is in good demand. In the fresh state they are 

 extremely good eating, firm and curdy, if cooked within an hour or two after being caught, but if 

 kept some time they lose their flavor and become coarse. The inhabitants of Fairisle, which lies half 

 way between the Orkney and Shetland groups of islands, pay their rent exclusively by saith-flshing." 



Pollock are more highly prized in New Brunswick than anywhere else on the Western Atlantic 

 coast, and the pollock fishery was in 1850 pronounced by Perley the most valuable and extensive 

 of the deep-sea fisheries of the Bay of Fundy.i It is stated by this authority that directly after 

 the spawning season the fish is lank and almost worthless, but that it becomes in good condition 

 again in August and improves as the season advances. 



The liver of the Pollock yields a great quantity of oil, proportionally much more than that of 

 the Cod. It is probable that most of the cod-liver oil in the market is more or less adulterated 

 with pollock-liver oil. Ko one has yet demonstrated that its medicinal properties are inferior. 

 The eggs of the Pollock are very large, and great quantities of them have been in past years 

 salted and exported to France. 



The Alaska Pollack, PollacMus chalcogrammus (Pallas) J. & G.^ — The Alaska Pollock is 

 thus described by Professor Jordan : " This species is known as Pollack to those who have seen 



' 1877. New method op captueing Pollock. — For some days past the schooner " Matchless," of Barrington, 

 has been fishing for Pollock with a purse-seine in the vicinity of Cape Sable, and doing very well at the business, 

 which is a kind of experiment, as the purse-seine, we believe, has been used hitherto in taking only mackerel, herring, 

 and such small fish. On Monday of last week the crew of the " Matchless" caught at one haul about 130 quintals 

 of Pollock, an immense catch, which took the men over twenty-fours hours to dress and salt. — Cape Arm Advertiser. 

 August 17, 1877. 



^ Gains chalcogrammus Pallas. Zoogr. Ross. Asiat., iii, 198. Gadus periscopus, Cope. Proc. Am. Philos. Sec, 1870. 



