158 



WEESLE GADUS. 



Five-Bearded Cod* 



** Mr. Willughby makes this species with five 

 beards a variety only of the former ; but having 

 opportunity of examining several specimens, we 

 must dissent from his opinion, having always ob- 

 served the number of the beards in the spotted kind 

 not to exceed three, nor the number in the brown 

 kind to be less than five : the first ray of the dorsal 

 fin is very long : there is also some difference in the 

 form as well as colour, this species being rather 

 thicker in proportion than the former. 



" Excepting in these particulars, and the number 

 of the beards, there is a general agreement in the 

 parts of both : the beards on the upper jaw are 

 four, viz. two at the very end of the nose, and two 

 a little above them : on the end of the lower jaw 

 is a single one. These fish are of a deep olive 

 brown, their belly whitish. They grow to the same 

 size as the former.' y 



Russian Gadus. 



A third variety of the Weesle Gadus, under the 

 above title is described by Mr. Walbaum, and is 

 introduced into the Gmelinian edition of the Systema 

 Naturae: it differs from the two former in being 

 furnished only with a single beard. 



