242 HADOCK COD FISH. Class IV. 



antients, and Belon that it was the K§w 9 and 

 the ti^cctos of Oppian. We have carefully con- 

 sulted most of the antient naturalists, but can- 

 not discover any marks by which we can deter- 

 mine the species they intended. The words 

 *Ovo$, -\Asinus, Asellus, ^Ca!la)*ias,and Bacchus 

 are familiarly applied to several of our species 

 of cod fish l3y the more modern writers ; yet 

 the antients, from whom they are borrowed, 

 have not authorized the application to any par- 

 ticular kind, either by description or any other 

 method. Different reasons have been assigned 

 for giving the name of Ovo$, or Asinus, to this 

 species, some imagining it to be from the color 

 of the fish, others because it used to be carried 

 on the backs of asses to market ; but we shall 

 drop this uncertain subject, and proceed to what 

 we have fuller assurance of. 

 Season. Large hadocks begin to be in roe the middle 

 of November, and continue so till the end of 

 January ; from that time till May they are very 

 thin tailed, and much out of season. In May 

 they begin to recover, and some of the middling- 

 sized fish are then very good, and continue im- 



* Arist. Hist. an. Lib. viii. c. 15. Oppian Halieut. I. 151. 

 III. 191. 

 \ Ovidii Halieut. Lin. 131. Plinii Lib. IX. c. 16. 17. 

 I Lib. e. 17. 



