320 CLASSIFICATION OF PISHES. 



has hitherto heen confounded by all writers : we pre- 

 sume this is the species, which, under the belief that it 

 was the common one, Cuvier says is abundant in tbe 

 Mediterranean. A third species, under the name of M. 

 Smiridus *, is mentioned by Rafinesque, as being rarely 

 found on the Sicilian coast ; but his description, unfor- 

 tunately, is so short, that the only definite character 

 we can discover is that the dorsal fins are nearly 

 equal : this we have never seen, as it was caught on a 

 part of the coast we did not explore. The next genus is 

 Lota: it is composed of more elongated fishes than any 

 of the preceding : their body, as well as the form of the 

 head, has more analogy to the eels, and the caudal fin is 

 rounded; the under jaw, as in Gadus, is furnished with a 

 cirrus. The ling seems the largest, and certainly the best 

 known, of this genus. We remember catching many of 

 this fish off the southern coast of Ireland, by a common 

 hook and line thrown out from the vessel : it is a par- 

 ticularly voracious fish, and is generally from two to four 

 feet long; but Pennant mentions one that measured seven 

 feet. The other British species. Lota vulgaris, or the 

 burbot, is the only species among the British GadidcB 

 that is fluviatile : we shall quote Mr. YarrelFs remark on 

 this species, in further confirmation of our theory that 

 this family represents the apodal order among the soft- 

 rayed tribes. *^The burbot," observes this excellent ich- 

 thyologist, " is not unlike the eel in some of its habits, — 

 concealing itself under stones, waiting and watching for 

 its prey ; it feeds, also, principally during the night, 

 and, like the eel, is most frequently caught by trimmers 

 and night lines." The third and last genus which enters 

 into this division is that Of Motella, or the rocklings : 

 these are much smaller and even more eel-like fishes than 

 the foregoing ; they are peculiarly distinguished by 

 having cirri at the tip of both jaws, and by the singular 

 structure of the first dorsal fin, which is altogether 



* M. Smiridus. " Capo quasi troncato diagonalmente, ale dorsale quasi 

 uguale.'— Ca?a«. p.25. 



