of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



195 



line) shows, from the operculum backward, nine dark spots. The first 

 three are continued downward to the silvery belly, and then cease. The 

 rest have connections with a series of median spots — five in number — in 

 the middle line, bands in several instances passing from two upper spots 

 to one median, and again bifurcating inferiorly. The lower part of the 

 gill-region and belly are silvery, and, in certain views, those and the 

 sides glance brightly, like burnished silver, with a slightly cupreous 

 sheen. The ventral median line has, on each side, a band of pigment 

 (continuous with the lateral bars described above), but the chromato- 

 phores are less regular than along the dorsum, though opposite the bases 

 of the ventral fins the black pigment is regularly arranged, apparently at 

 the base of each ray. Pigment also appears on the sides and under surface 

 of the lower jaw, and a thin dark streak passes a short distance backward 

 in the middle line. The breast-fins are translucent, their rays only 

 glancing during their active vibratile movements. The first and the 

 second dorsal fins have the blackish pigment best developed on the 

 membrane between the rays, towards the free edge, the basal region 

 being pale. The pigment occurs in the first six or seven spaces of the first 

 dorsal ; the third dorsal has none. The first anal fin, towards its distal 

 half anteriorly, is speckled with black. The ventral fins are translucent, 

 with a few grains of white on the two outer rays, the second of which is 

 now elongating. The tail-fin is devoid of chromatophores. The eyes 

 show an iridescent orange-hue, with minute specks of black on a silvery 

 ground. From the dorsum they are blackish, with minute iridescent 

 greenish specks. A small barbel is present. The arrangement of the 

 pigment on a green cod of the same length is wholly different, for the 

 large stellate pigment-spots are scattered over the entire area laterally, 

 and the black streak in the median (lateral) line is more distinct. All 

 the three dorsal fins are more deeply pigmented, and both anals have 

 pigment. When viewed from the ventral surface, there is much more 

 pigment in the hyoidean region. The pectorals and ventrals are slightly 

 smaller than in the cod, the latter being devoid of black pigment in 

 both. Of the two, the cod is the more precocious in regard to the 

 development of the tips of the long rays of the ventrals. 



Besides being found at this stage close inshore, it has occasionally 

 happened that they are also captured a considerable distance offshore. 

 Thus, for example, on the 21st July, one 29 mm. long was secured in the 

 mid-water net 8 miles south-east of the Isle of May. Their general 

 tendency, however, is shore-wards. 



The pigment gradually increases until the sides of the young fish are 

 boldly tessellated, the lighter patches often having a slightly pearly or 

 iridescent lustre. Meanwhile, the length of the fish is increasing, and its 

 form becoming more and more characteristic. At five inches, for instance, 

 on the 22nd of September, most of the external characters of the adult are 

 present, except that the sides are still boldly mottled by the pigment- 

 bars (PI. VI. fig. 6). 



As they grow older, the young cod seek the offshore waters, and the 

 tessellated condition becomes less marked, e.g., about eight inches. They 

 form considerable shoals off rocky coasts, such as south of Girdleness in 

 Aberdeenshire, and, indeed, all along the east coast. Many, however, 

 continue to haunt the shallower rocky shores and the tangle-forests beyond 

 low-water mark, and are more brilliantly coloured. They are known to 

 anglers by the name of rock-cod. 



Their subsequent growth has been noted elsewhere, but the main point 

 is the contrast which such a life-history affords to that of the haddock. 



