OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 73 



chiostegal rays seven or eight in number ; an air-bladder 

 visually present ; one or more cirrhose appendages, barbels 

 frequently developed from the chin or upper lip. 



The Cod family, restricted in its distribution to the colder 

 waters of the Temperate and Arctic seas, represents one of, if 

 not quite the most commercially important group included 

 within the fish fauna of the world, and since in such 

 connection it will receive especial attention in the Hand- 

 books devoted to Food Fishes and Sea-Fishing, an enume- 

 ration is simply here given of the large number of forms 

 that frequent British waters. The well-known Cod {Gadus 

 morhua), No. ioo, which occupies the head of the list with 

 respect to size, abundance, and general utility, is remarkable 



FIG. 16. — LING {Molva vulgaris). 



for developing several very distinct local varieties, which, 

 with a certain class of zoologists, have been admitted to the 

 rank of separate species. The so-called " Lord-fish " is one 

 of these in which a greater or less number of the caudal 

 vertebrae having coalesced together, the head is relatively 

 very long, and in reference to which peculiarity it formerly 

 received the title of Gadus macrocepJialus. In the so-called 

 Speckled-Cod (Gadus punctatus), of Fleming, numerous 

 black dots are thickly developed over the dorsal surface, 

 which have been shown by Dr. Day to be due to the 

 presence of a parasitic organism. While the " Red Cod " is a 

 variety inhabiting the deeper waters of the ocean, and 

 apparently owing the colour from whence it derives its name 

 to its dietary, which is said to consist almost entirely of 



