xxvi DEPARTMENT OF TEE NAYAL SERVICE 



erly Norwegian waters commences in April, that of the herring in the gulf of St. Law- 

 rence does not begin until June; in the case of a single sample, indeed, not until July. 

 In Lea's paper, also, pp. 158-159, it is pointed out that a similar late growth is kno^vn 

 from the Baltic, near the coast of Finland — a further example of the similarity 

 between conditions in the gulf of St. Lawrence and those of European bays. 



In considering the collection of animal plankton, there are certain points which 

 should be borne in mind. 



For carrying out the cruises above mentioned, I could only reckon on having the 

 two vessels, PHncess and Acadia at my disposal for about a month, or, to be precise, 

 for thirty-three days in all. In order to cover, within this short period, a sufficiently 

 large expanse of water to give a real survey, it was necessary to arrange beforehand 

 for the quickest possible method of work, making only a short stay, for instance, at 

 each station. This was the more imperative, since the frequently boisterous or foggy 

 weather compelled us to allow a margin for delay, though, as it turned out, we met 

 with no serious difficulties in this respect. 



Moreover, the two vessels, not being built specially for the purpose, could naturally 

 not offer ideal facilities for plankton work. The Michael Sars, as described in the 

 " Depths of the Ocean," lies low in the water, and can be easily manceuvred against 

 the wind, so as to keep the line of a net vertical in the water; our vessels here, on the 

 other hand, with their higher freeboard, could only take their stations by lying trans- 

 versely to the direction of the wind, which often rendered it difficult to get vertical 

 hauls. 



Owing to these circumstances, the hauls made are by no means all that could be 

 desired, especially from the point of view of the Hensen school. The critical remarks 

 proffered by Dr. Huntsman in his notes on the list of hauls in the present volume (pp. 

 407-4:20) are therefore entirely justified from this point of view, and the quantitative 

 figures for volume are really only of value to a limited degree — more limited, in the 

 present case, than such figures otherwise would be in themselves. They are given here, 

 nevertheless — albeit, as mentioned, with all reserve — because, to those who are them- 

 selves acquainted with the fluctuating quantity and quality of plankton generally, they 

 will be of interest as affording some idea of the order of maguitvide in the present 

 samples. And in connection with subsequent collections, taken for instance at other 

 seasons and in other years, as also for further treatment of the material, the figures in 

 question will doubtless be of some importance after all. They also serve to indicate 

 approximately the extent of the collections from which the different groups of material 

 treated separately in the special sections were drawn. 



In the case of larger, rarer, and more conspicuous forms, such as fish eggs, fish 

 larvse, Chaetognaths, treated in the present volume, we endeavoured as far as possible to 

 count, treat, and examine all individuals in the samples. In such treatment it is 

 always more or less interesting to note the size of the samples, and the depth in which 

 the numbers of individuals found were obtained. For forms of less frequent occur- 

 rence, also, the quantitative approximation is perhaps also satisfactory, but gives, of 

 course no information as to the interesting question of the precise depth at which the 

 individuals concerned actually were taken. 



The study of fish eggs and fish larvae gave rise, during the progress of the cruises 

 themselves, to a series of most interesting and important questions. 



On the first cruise of the Princess in the gulf of St. Lawrence, (May 29 to June 4), 

 we encountered a characteristic occurrence of eggs of Gadoid species, in particular 

 of the cod proper, and of the flatfish Drepanopsetta (Hippoglossoides) all over the 

 banks, i.e., in what we have called Magdalen bay, at Anticosti, along the north shore, 

 and off the west coast of Newfoundland. Besides these greatly predominating species, 

 we found on the banks only eggs and a few larvae of arctic species (Anarrhichas lati- 

 fron.<?, Mallotus villesus, Icelus, and Agonus decagonus. At the southernmost 

 stations, we found at Cabot strait the first mackerel eggs, and above the deep Lauren- 

 tian channel — and nowhere else — considerable quantities of Sebastes. 



