52 EINAR LÖNNHERG, (Schwed. Südpolar-Exp. 



tlieniidœ is best represented. Although only two species {Notothenia larseni and 

 Artedidrace skottsbergi) with full certainty have been stated, it seems probable 

 thaf some other small species likewise occur, and in addition to them, at least one 

 species of a large ^^ Notothenia \ or perhaps more probable Trematouuis, and a 

 '' Chœnichthys" . If this latter has not been Ch. rliinoccratus, against which the great 

 depth at stations 8i and 90 speaks, it might have been a Gerlacliea DOLLO which 

 genus was discovered by the "Belgica"-Expedition at a locality not so very distant, 

 or some of the other specialised and "pickerel-shaped" Xototheniidœ. But this fa- 

 mily is not the only one represented in this region. There was also found a Ma- 

 crunis and a rather large member of Lycodidœ, which latter, most probably, is yet 

 undescribed. Such a conclusion is at least near at hand, if the comparison is ex- 

 tended to the species of the genus Lycodes of the Northern Atlantic and Arctic 

 Ocean,' which appear to have a rather limited distribution. 



The propagation of the Nototheniidae. 



Although the following notes are very incomplete they are of interest as they 

 give some information about an almost unknown chapter of the life-history of the 

 subantarctic and antarctic shore-fishes. 



A female of Notothenia brevipes with a* total length of about 12 cm. and caught 

 in Berkeley Sound the loth of Aug. 1902 in a depth of 25 m. had greatly extended 

 ovaries which seemed almost ripe. The time of propagation of this species could 

 therefore not be very remote. The diameter of the eggs was about i mm. ^ A 

 month earlier females of the same species caught at Port Williams the 4th of ]v\\y 

 had immature ova with a diameter of V^ — ^U nim. This species appears therefore to 

 spawn in the later part of the winter, or early in the beginning of the antarctic spring. 



A female of Notothenia nticops ni/difrons caught at Shag Rocks, W. of South 

 Georgia in a depth of 160 m. the 19th of April 1902 was so greatly distended by the 

 ovaries that the spawning season must have been very near. Its eggs measured about 

 1V3 mm. in diameter. The spawning of this species thus probably takes place in the 

 antarctic autumn, which is corroborated by the fact that the specimens of the same 

 kind which were caught at South Georgia a few weeks later had not distended ovaries. 



Notothenia larseni has probably a similar spawning time as A^. jni::ops, because 

 a female specimen of the former caught at Shag Rocks together with the just men- 

 tioned female .A^. mizops had also distended ovaries, and its eggs measured about 

 I mm. in diameter. 



■ Conf. the work by Ad. Jensen on the Genus Lycodts: "De Nordevropceisk-Grönlandske Lycodina'". 

 Den Danske Ingolf-Expedition. Bd. 2 No. 4. Kjöbenhavn 1904. 



' These and the following measurements refer to ovarian eggs in preserved state. 



