XI -NEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HERRING-QUESTION. -THE 

 DISPUTE BETWEEN AXEL BOECK AND OSSIAN SARS RE- 

 GARDING THE NORWEGIAN SUMMER-HERRING -SARS'S 

 RECENT OBSERVATIONS AND HIS NEW THEORY ON THE 

 MIGRATIONS OF THE HERRING-* 



I. 



In accordance with a proposal made by Mr. G. O. Sars, the " practical 

 and scientific observations on the Norwegian sea-fisheries" were, in 

 1872, combined with the soundings made by the Norwegian navy in the 

 sea outside the Jseder stream ; and as this portion of the sea is in 

 the immediate neighborhood of the spring-herring district, the " depart- 

 ment of the interior" commissioned Mr. Sars — we presume, in accordance 

 with his own suggestion — to throw, if possible, some new light on the 

 hitherto somewhat obscure question regarding the nature and the mi- 

 grations of the herring. Mr. Sars intended to direct his attention par- 

 ticularly to the so-called fat-herring or summcr-licrring, as he always sus- 

 pected that its true nature had not been properly understood by other 

 naturalists, and particularly by Mr. Axel Boeck. Mr. Sars's report was 

 noticed in the " Morgenhladet^ and was subsequently printed in full 

 in that journal (October 29, 1872f). It called forth some remarks 

 by Mr. Axel Boeck in a later number of that journal, (November 5, 

 1872,) and a discussion ensued between the two gentlemen, which, in 

 the beginning especially, was of a violent character, perhaps to some 

 extent excused by the circumstances, but in itself very deplorable. 

 It seems, however, that both of them during the subsequent discussion 

 (which elicited but little that was new) endeavored to treat the matter 

 in a calmer spirit. It is not our intention to judge between the per- 

 sons of these two gentlemen, or to revive a discussion which for one of 

 them bears the melancholy souvenir that his colleague and opponent — to 

 the great sorrow of all Scandinavian naturalists — did not long survive 

 it. All we desire in this article is to give a brief review of the data 

 which have been gained, by Mr. Sars's observations of the "summer-her- 

 ring," respecting the herring whose natural history is still enveloped in 

 so much obscurity. Every step toward throwing more light on the sub- 



* " Nye Bidrag til Sildesp^rgsruaalet. Striden uiellem Axel Boeck og Ossian Sars an- 

 gaaendo den norske Sommersild. Sars's senere Unders^gelser og nans nye Theori om 

 SildensTrajk :" in Nordisk Tidsskrift for Fiskeri. New series. Aargang2. Part 2. 1S75. 

 pp. — , with map. 



t Later it has been printed separately, (1874,) together with the reports of 1370, 1871, 

 and 1873. 



