A. The natural Conditions of the Fiords, 



One of our historians relates, that in a fragment of an ancient 

 Irish annul it is told, that in the year 872 „one of the two Nor- 

 wegian kings in Dublin. Ivar. went with a large army from Ire- 

 land to Lochlann (Norway)-to aid his father who was at war with 

 the king of Lochlann." 1 ) 



It must be said that the ancient Irish hail found a particu- 

 larly suitable name for the land, which is also in modern tourist 

 language made famous as ,,the land of fiords". The Norwegian 

 series of fiords presents many interesting- problems to the naturalist 

 too, and a thorough examination of them will undoubtedly serve to 

 throw light on many questions. 



If one sets to work to make a thorough scientific investigation 

 of a fiord, the facts obtained may be divided into three principal 

 groups; those concerning the shape and situation of the fiord (top- 

 ography i, or concerning the medium with which the fiord basin 

 is tilled (hydrography) or concerning the plants and animals con- 

 tained in it (biology). The object in view, in case of such an 

 examination, should be to gain the greatest possible insight into the 

 biological phenomena, but in order to attain this end, one will be 

 compelled to study most carefully the topographical and hydro- 

 graphical conditions of the fiord. As a part of the topography of 

 the fiords one must. I think, consider such things as their geo- 



graphical position, proportionate size, subdivisions, relative depths. 

 the occurrence of barriers, rocks under water, holms and islands. 

 In addition to these things, the nature of the bottom and the sur- 

 rounding hills, the geological history of the fiord (e. g. the rise and 

 fall in the shore line! etc.. must be taken into consideration as be- 

 longing to the topography of a fiord. To the hydrography of the 

 fiords may be reckoned all the facts and qualities concerning the 

 medium which fills their basins, such as salinity, temperature, gas- 

 eity, transparency, the motions of the water (currents, waves, tides). 

 formation of ice. inflow of rivers or streams etc. Finally, atmos- 

 pherical conditions must also be taken into consideration as play- 

 inn an important part in the physical state of a fiord (e. g. tem- 

 perature, downfall, prevailing winds, atmospheric pressure etc.). 



The biology of the fiords will include vegetable and animal life 

 in their waters, at the bottom and in the bottom mud. The plan 

 here suggested for the examination of a fiord must, I think, be taken 

 to be tolerably complete, and 1 will look upon it as a guide in 

 my future work. I must, however, at once confess that the in- 

 vestigations L have hitherto made in northern Norway do not make 

 it possible to fill in very much of the frame work 1 have set up 

 in the foregoing lines. I will, nevertheless, build up the skeleton 

 in the hope that it may be solidly covered later on. 



a. Topographical Notes. 



The Geographical survey of the Norwegian coast has given us 

 maps, in which very much of what I call the topography of the 

 fiords is made clear. lint the complete mapping out of the northern 

 fiords is not yet finished. A good deal of information about the 

 fiords will also be found in Prof. A. Helland's 2 ) topographical works, 

 and a description of the ground through which the fiords have dug 

 their way, will be found in „I)et nordlige Norges geologi" (The 

 Geology of Northern Norway) by Dr. H. Reusch. The problem 

 of the fluctuations in the shoreline are treated in detail by Dr. 

 Andreas Hansen.") In a hydrographical paper concerning the 

 western fiords. 4 ) I have touched upon the effect which changes in 

 the level of the sea have upon these inner parts of the fiords which 

 are connected with the principal fiord by comparatively shallow 

 currents. 



As regards these currents, it seems pretty generally to be the 



') Loch = lake, fiord. 

 2 ) Lofoten og Vesteraalen, Tromse ami. 

 •'i Norgea geol. undei-segelses aarbog f. t896 99. 



J ) Studier oyer naturforiioldene i vestlandske fjorde. I. Hvdrografi. Berg. 

 Mus. aarb. 1903, no. 8. 



case that they have forced their way through moraines, which in 

 many instances cause the comparative confinement. Hf.llanh 1 ) 

 mentions examples of this, in Kvsenangen, both the „Stor"- and 

 „Lille strommen" having forced themselves through old moraines. 

 It is most probable, that the majority of the so-called ..stiomme" 

 (currents) in the fiords, run over such moraines. 



With respect to the situation of a fiord, it is not only its geo- 

 graphical latitude which is of importance for its vegetable and 

 animal life, a verj weighty factor is also its relative position to 

 the prevailing current in the surrounding ocean. Let us make an 

 experiment. We cut a section along the 22nd degree of loiiL'itude 

 (E of Greenwich l towards the boundary line of Finland and con- 

 tinue to cut along the boundary to Jacob's river on the south side 

 of the Varanger Fiord. Then we turn this section around the point 

 where the longitudinal line and the shore line of the continent 

 intersect, so that the fiords of Finmark will lie in a direction which 

 is approximately E— W. These fiords will then undoubtedly undergo 

 a change in their biology, and notwithstanding that they were 



1 1 Ti omsa arnt, II. p. 349. 



