COCYTUS, a tributary of the Acheron, a river of Tilesprotia, which flows into the Ionian Sea. Its modern name is the Vuvo. The name is also applied, in classical mythology, to a tributary of the Acheron, a river in Hades. The etymology suggested is from K(OICIELV, to wail.

COD (Itlm-Thu(1 vulgaris), a well-known species of G. adidcz, a family of Anacanthine Fishes, possessing, in common with the other members of the genus, three dorsal and two anal fins, and a single barbel at the chin. It is a widely distributed species, being found throughout the northern and temperate seas of Europe, Asia, and America, extending as far south as Gibraltar, but not entering the Mediterranean, and inhabits water from 25 to 50 fathoms deep, where it always feeds close to the bottom. It is exceedingly voracious, feeding on the smaller denizens of the ocean - fish, crustaceans, worms, and mollusks, and greedily taking almost any bait the fisherman chooses to employ. The cod spawns in February, and is exceedingly prolific, the roe of a single female having been known to contain upwards of eight millions of ova, and to form more than half the weight of the entire fish. Only a small proportion of these get fertilized, and still fewer ever emerge from the egg. The number of cod is still further reduced by the trade carried on in roe, large quantities of which are used in France as ground-bait in the sardine fishery, while it also forms an article of human food. The young are about an inch in length by the end of spring, but are not fit for th• market till the second year, and it has been stated that they do not reach maturity, as shown by the power of reproduction, till the end of their third year. They usually measure about 3 feet in length, and weigh from 12 to 20 Tr), but specimens have been taken from 50 to 70 lb in weight. As an article of food the cod-fish is in greatest perfection during the three months preceding Christmas. It is caught on all parts of the British and Irish coasts; bat the Dogger Bank, and Rockall, off the Outer Hebrides, have been specially noted for their cod-fisheries. Until recently, the London market was in great part supplied from the former of these ; but now the fishery is chiefly carried on along the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, where great quantities of the fish are caught with hook and line, and conveyed to market alive in " well-boats " specially built for this traffic. Such boats have been in use since the beginning of the 18th century. The most important cod-fishery in the world is that which has been prosecuted for centuries on the Newfoundland banks, where it is not uncommon for a single fisherman to take over 500 of these fish in 10 or 11 hours. The fish have lately been decreasing in that well-worn locality, but that the yield is still enormous is seen from recently published returns, from which it appears that the quantity of cod obtained by the Canadian fishery alone in 1875 weighed over 31,000 tons, while in 1874 it reached 31,500 tons, These, salted and dried, are exported to all parts of the world, and feral, when taken in connection with the enormous quantity of fresh cod consumed, a valuable addition to the food resources of the human race. The swimming bladder of this fish furnishes isinglass, little, if at all, inferior to that obtained from the sturgeon, while from the liver is obtained cod-liver oil, now largely used in medicine as a remedy in scrofulous complaints and pulmonary consumption. " The Norwegians," says Cuvier, "give cod heads with marine plants to their cows for the purpose of producing a greater proportion of milk. The vertebm, the ribs, and the bones in general, are given to their cattle by the Icelanders, and by the Kanatchatdales to their dogs. These same parts, properly dried, are also employed as fuel in the desolate steppes of the Icy Sea." At Port Login in Wigtonshire cod-fish arc kept in a large reservoir, scooped out of the solid rock by the action of the sea, egress from which is prevented by a barrier of stones, which does not prevent the free access of the water. These cod are fed chiefly on mussels, and when the keeper approaches to feed them they may he seen rising to the surface in hundreds and eagerly seeking the edge. They have become comparatively tame and familiar. Frank Buckland, who some years ago visited the place, states that after a little while they allowed him to take hold of them, scratch them on the back, and play with them in various ways. Their flavour is considered superior to that of the cod taken in the open sea.