278 ANACANTHINI. 



Yarrell having observed a " Lord-fish," G. macrocephalus, Tiles, at the mouth of 

 the Thames considered the appearance due to disease. Gurney (Zool. May 16th, 

 1851) remarks upon having seen one of these fish caught at Lowestoft, and called 

 by the local fishermen " a lord,"* resembling Tarrell's figure. Thompson also 

 obtained two at Belfast and considered them deformities. Cobbold found this 

 shortening of the body, which occasions the comparatively large head, to be due 

 to the coalescence of a great number of the vertebra? immediately succeeding the 

 bones of the head. My example I find, on dissection, likewise suffered from 

 coalescence of several vertebra?, but all in the caudal region. Gill alludes to a 

 Labrador specimen which possessed two barbels below the chin placed one 

 behind the other. Of colour — Turton's "speckled cod" may have been so 

 coloured due to disease — as the presence of parasites. Mr. Sim in November, 

 1881, obtained two examples at Aberdeen which he kindly forwarded to me. 

 They were of a light colour, but speckled, especially over the upper half of the 

 body and fins with small black dots, which under a magnifying glass were seen 

 to be round elevations, some of which had small orifices in their centres. The 

 fins were edged with black. Thompson likewise obtained speckled examples in 

 Ireland, agreeing with Turton's fish, but which he considered as varieties of the 

 common cod. Gocllings are frequently yellow* or even of a red colour, while 

 living among rocks they do not assume their adult livery until they change their 

 residence. Edward at Banff alludes to occasionally meeting with red codlings, 

 which most frequently had yellow fins, none exceeded the size of the common 

 haddock. Thompson saw one in Ireland of a pale lilac-gray colour, closely 

 studded over with large reddish-gray spots, which were as close together as 

 in any species of trout. Parnell found the red cod the firmest for eating, and 

 remarked that they resided in very deep water feeding almost entirely on young 

 lobsters and starfish. 



Names. — Poidlach, Moray Firth, or if half grown, duncan (Gordon) ; Meg 

 and heeling, a large kind of cod ; also chelynge (Halliwell). JDole-fish is that 

 form in which the fishermen of the North Sea had their pay or " dole." Blens, 

 while the young are generally known as codlings. In the Channel those the size 

 of a whiting are termed codlings and skinners : when larger, tumbling or tamlin- 

 cod (Yarrell). Haberdine or salted cod, in Westmorland. Le gade morue, French. 

 De Kabeljaatnv, Dutch. 



Habits. — A voracious fish which as a rule feeds near the ground. It is 

 indiscriminate in its choice, consuming whatever inhabitants of the deep it is 

 able to master. The most elaborate investigations into the life history of this 

 fish have been made by Sars off the coast of Norway, and from whose reports in 

 the fishery department much of the following is derived, for its habits in any 

 part of Europe are nearly identical with those in our seas. Large cod fisheries 

 begin along the N.W. coast of Norway, generally in the winter ; consequently the 

 fish would seem to commence arriving all about the same time, and though each 

 school does not follow the identical course of the one preceding it, they may be 

 imagined as coming in numerous parallel lines, and in a north-easterly direction 

 from the great deep towards the shore. The chief fisheries are in the middle of 

 the winter or first four months of the year, and about the same time as the great 

 spring herring-fisheries. It was observed that near Christmas unusual numbers 

 of small fishes appear on the banks off the N.W. of Norway, and before long the 

 cod-fish make their appearance ; soon the other and smaller forms decrease in 

 number, until at last it appears as if only cod were present. The first comers 

 (species doubtful) are termed the " announcing fish " by the fishermen, as they 

 are the advanced guard of the large army which begins to appear about the 

 middle of January, and continues arriving in schools consisting of milters and 

 spawners until the middle of March — in other years they may even commence 

 arriving as late as March, the period varying with the weather, as they come in 

 earlier when it is mild with a south-westerly wind, than when it is cold with 



* At Lowestoft a hump-backed person is frequently termed " a lord," according to Mr. Gurney. 

 f Ldwaid (Zool. 1882, p. 23) mentions one from Banffshire that he considered a dorse, Oadus 

 callarias, and in which there were 1). 19/20/21, A. 21/20. 



