DORSE. 
G9 
brijrht golden yellow, paler on the sides and belly. Lateral 
hue at first of the colour of the skin, but more golden nearer 
:he tail. The connecting membrane of the fins, uniting the 
rays, diaphanous from the roots, so that the rays themselves 
could be easily traced. 
Mr. Thompson mentions what was supposed to be a Haddock, 
obtained by Dr. Ball, at Dublin, of a canary coloiu’; and 
another where the upper surface— the head and back — were of 
a pale golden yellow, which extended to the dorsal, caudal, 
mid pectoral fins, without the mark on the sides common in 
the Haddock. Other examples, much like these, but more 
varied are mentioned, and one of them twenty-seven inches in 
length; and scarcely a doubt can remain that these fishes were 
examples of the Dorse. Willoughby mentions one caught by a 
fisherman which measured four feet, which, he justly observes, 
was an uncommon circumstance, and the rather so as it has 
hitherto remained the only authentic instance of the capture 
of this species in Britain. 
Dr. Gunther represents this as only a variety, or the young 
condition of the Common Cod; but 1 have seen an example 
of the Dorse, as described above, as large as an ordinary Cod, 
and easily to be distinguished from it; as also I have e.xamined 
Codfishes, even of minute size, (down to the fourth of an inch 
in length,} but the general shape of which was decidedly 
different from the fish I have here represented. 
