17 $ 
THE COD. 
Genus XXII. The Cod *. 
This genus contains a very numerous, and well known 
tribe of fifties, a confiderable part of which frequent the 
Britijh coafts, and contribute more largely to the fub- 
fiftence of the inhabitants of Europe, than any of thofe 
families which we have hitherto reviewed. Their gene- 
ral chara&ers are, a fmooth head ; {even flender branchi- 
oftegous rays ; an oblong body, covered with fmall de- 
ciduous fcalcs. The number and fituation of the fins ate 
various ; the teeth are fmall, and numerous, placed up' 
on each jaw, and in the upper part of the mouth f . 
The ilated migrations of moll of the fdh that compel 
this genus, is one of the molt remarkable circumftance 5 
in their hiltory : in thefe annual voyages, in the immen- 
fity of their numbers, and in their focial habits, they beaf 
a Itrong analogy to birds of paffage. The cod, the had' 
dock, and the whiting, iffue forth in immenfe fnoals fr ot11 
the artic feas, very early in the fpring, and after having 
difperfed over the temperate latitudes, again regularly 
return to their northern retreats about the fame time 
the year. The necellity of procuring food has been 
figned as the caufe of their annual migrations from 
artic feas ; and their retreat thither has been afcribed t0 
the fecurity that thefe unfrequented tratts are fuppm e 
to afford them, while they depofite their fpawn. ^ ^ 
* Afellus Major Vulgaris, Willough. Gadus Morhua, Lin., SyiL 
t Eritifh Zool. dafs iv. gen. 19 . 
