244 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



Not having access to any variety of specimens of American cod-fish, I shall not 

 attempt to give a detailed description of the species. A specimen brought from 

 Newfoundland by Mr. Audubon, to whom it was given by the fishermen as an 

 uncommon kind or variety, does not appear to differ from the small brown cod 

 which is taken on rocky parts of the British coast. 



Its length is sixteen inches, the head forming one-third part, and the central rays of the 

 square caudal fin measuring an inch and a quarter. The lateral line is arched anteriorly, 

 descending at the second dorsal, and then running straight to the tail, keeping rather nearer 

 to the anal than to the dorsal in its course. The teeth of the upper jaw and vomer are acute, 

 of various lengths, and crowded into bands : on the lower jaw they stand almost in a single 

 series. 



Fins.— Br. 7—7; P. 18; V. 6 ; D. 15—19—17 ; A. 19—17; C. . New/, sp. 



7—7 ; 18; 6 ; 14— 20— 1 7 ; 1 9—20 ; 38 to 40. Dav. St. sp. 



The number of rays of the Davis' Straits' fish are quoted from Captain James C. Ross, who 

 says that the average weight of fifteen individuals was sixteen pounds, and their length thirty- 

 six inches and a half, of which the head formed one-fourth part, and the caudal fin one- 

 seventh. Though the number of rays was various in different specimens, the second dorsal 

 always contained more than either the first or third. The alimentary canal rather exceeded 

 the body in length, and the pyloric caeca amounted to two hundred and fifty. 



[94.] 2. Gadus callarias. (Linn.) The Dorse. 



Gadus callarias. Fabricius, Fauna Graenl., p. 144. 



Cadus callarias. Ross. Jpp., p. 1. 



Saraudleek. Greenlanders. Eeleetok. Esquimaux of Boothia. 



The Dorse is mentioned by Fabricius as common on the Greenland coast, and 

 Captain James C. Ross observed it in the inlet to the west of the peninsula of 

 Boothia, where it is taken abundantly, though in very poor condition, by the Esqui- 

 maux, who fish for it from the middle of May till near the end of June, through 

 holes cut in the ice. It is plentiful in the White Sea and along the whole 

 northern coast of Europe, particularly in the Baltic. Fabricius states that on the 

 Greenland coast it feeds upon small fishes, crustacese, and molluscee, and that it is 

 most frequently observed at some distance from the bottom, with its tail directed 

 obliquely downwards. A smaller variety, differing from the larger one in the num- 

 ber of rays of the fins, is taken in some places only, in the winter time, under the 

 ice. The callarias of Dr. Mitchill is probably a distinct species. 



