452 Fishes. 
sumption and exportation. On the eastern coasts of 
England they are in their greatest perfection from the 
beginning of February to the end of May. They spawn 
in June : at this season, the males separate from the 
females, who deposit their eggs in the soft oozy ground 
at the mouth of large rivers. 
In a commercial point of view, the Ling may be con- 
sidered a very important fish. Nine hundred thousand 
pounds weight are annually exported from Norway. In 
England, these fish are canght and cured in somewhat 
the same manner as the cod. Those which are caught 
off the shores of America are by no means so much es- 
teemed as those which frequent the coasts of Great Bri- 
tain and Norway; and the Ling in the neighbourhood 
of Iceland are so bad, that the inhabitants are unable to 
find a sale for them in any country except their own. 
The roe and air-bladders, or sounds of the Ling, are 
pickled, and sold separately. 
THE HAKE, (Gadus merluccius,) 
Is a coarse fish, nearly allied to the Ling, and is caught 
in great abundance on the Devonshire and Cornwall 
coast. It is also found on the coasts of Ireland and 
Scotland, where it is called stock-fish, and is often con- 
founded with cod. 
