820 PROFESSOR W. C. M'INTOSH AND MR E. E. PRINCE ON 



inch. The pigment is not yet arranged in transverse bars, but has the character 

 described in the earlier stages, being chiefly grouped on the head, along the dorsum, and 

 on a lateral line. Stellate pigment-spots are somewhat thinly dotted here and there on 

 the sides. Moreover, in several, after preservation in spirit, the pigment-corpuscles on 

 the head show a central nucleus, then a pale area, and externally a ring or border of 

 black pigment, the whole presenting the appearance of minute mosaic work. The 

 abdomen in all is tinted of a pale orange hue from the Crustacean food which distends 

 both stomach and intestines. The same food is eaten by the small sand-eels, young 

 armed bullheads, and other fishes captured with them. The ventrals are now well formed, 

 and show the elongated outer rays, though these are less developed than in a subsequent 

 stage. Glancing generally at the contour of the fish the origins of these fins (ventral) 

 also appear somewhat further forward than in the later stages. The barbel is now 

 distinct, though it is less conspicuous from length than thickness. 



As the fishes get larger (? older) there is a distinct aggregation of the black pigment 

 along the sides, and the appearance of a brownish tinge in the skin on which these 

 pigment-specks rest. These young cod are paler than the young green cod, from which 

 they are also distinguished by the size of the barbel (which is very small in the green 

 cod), and the longer snout in front of the eye ; while the appearance of the pigment-spots 

 along the sides at once removes any ambiguity. Moreover, the eye of the green cod 

 is somewhat larger, proportionally, than that of the cod, probably from the shorter snout, 

 and the mandible in the former is longer, when each is about 1^ inch in length. The cod 

 also soon shows a series of pale dots, from 4 to 6 in number on each side, along the 

 dorsum, and the general habit of the fish differs quite from that of the green cod, as 

 formerly mentioned.* Spirit-specimens, about \\ inch long, are readily discriminated 

 from the green cod by the pigment-bars and pale areas, and the barbel, as well as by the 

 general sprinkling of pigment-corpuscles over the entire area in the green cod. The fins 

 in the young cod vary considerably in regard to pigment, many presenting at this stage 

 a slight marginal black band, but as a rule they have much less pigment than in the 

 green cod, which, moreover, shows grains of yellow pigment in the dorsal fins, and to 

 a less extent in the first anal. 



Alexander Agassiz mentions and figures t two specimens, probably of the common 

 cod, 20 and 28 mm. in length respectively, the former without the pigment-bars, devoid 

 of a barbel, and with the median fins still somewhat continuous, the latter with long 

 ventral fins, pigment-bars, and the general feature of the adult. As a rule the cod of our 

 eastern shores show the characters of the adult before reaching so great a length. More- 

 over, instead of simple ventral pigment-bars, the dice-like pattern of the pigment is 

 diagnostic.^ 



The young cod which, in company with the green cod (Gadus virens), frequents the 



* Ann. Nat. Hist, Oct. 1886, p. 307. 



t Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., vol. xvii. p. 286, pi. viii. figs. 4, 5, 1882. 



X Vide Fourth Report, Fishery Board, for Scotland, and Ann. Nat. Hist. 



