fauna of the eoral regions in our lionls. Stoum has jiiven a con- 

 cise account of the conditions in tile 'rrondhjem Fiord, witii a map 

 s!io\vin<r tlie position of the corals, and to this I would beg- refe- 

 rence. I will here also emphasize the fact that the characteristic 

 forms on the episrlacial LophohclKt-reei at Drobak (Peefoi ritrtus, 

 P. ((nitiis. Lima ('rcanttn. Area noduJosa etc.) also at the present 

 time show themselves to be faithful companions. Howevei-, 1 do 

 not tliink practical boundaries can be drawn between tlie fauna 

 which are connected with Lopliolwliu and those which are connected 

 with othei' corals, such as. Piirafiorghi (irhnrea, Pitramiiy'iccd placomns 

 or Piimnoa lepadifera. 



It may, on the other hand, be said that the le^ion of the 

 deep water corals lias its detinite, decided fauna, which is parti- 

 cularly uniform in M the large Norwegian fiords to which the 

 ocean water has free access, from the l^okn to the Vest Fioi'd. 

 There is a coral facies of animals, just as there is a clay facies. 



A few words on the fauna in clay. 



The deep channels and basins in tlie fiords (150—200 m. and 

 more), of which clay forms the bottom and into which the ocean 

 water has access, have also their characteristic animal life. 



And since the investigations made by G. 0. ISaks, in the 

 sixties, at the fishing- place Skroven and at other places in the 

 Vest Fiord, we know that there are especially interesting- forms on 

 the clay-bottom of the depths. Such as, for instance, JsideUa li'ip- 

 piiris, Uloci/athiis arcticus, Bliizocrinus lofotensis, Brisinga coronata, 

 Flustra abyssicola etc. The fauna at Skroven, where I have made 

 a very successful haul with a trawl at a depth of 350—410 m., 

 is very rich. In addition to the forms just mentioned, it was quite 

 usual to find such species as the following, on the clay depths in 

 the Vest Fiord and those of its arms into which ocean water pene- 

 trates at the bottom: — 



Foraminifera : — Astrorhiza arenaria, Saccammina sphærica, 

 Stort}iosj)hæra idhidu, Bathysifon filiforniis, Mhabdammina abyssorum. 



Echinodefrmata : — AmpMhins norvegica, Ophioscolex glacialis, 

 Fsilaster andromeda, Stichopus tremidiis, Bathyplotes natans, Meso- 

 thiiria iiitestuudin. CucumarUi Jiispida. Myriotrochus vifreus. 



Polychadu: — Ld'fmoniir filiroruis. Leanira tetragona, Terre- 

 bellided strdmi. 



Mollusca: — Nuculu tionidiila. rorUnudm hu-'ida. MaUetia 

 obtusa, Area pectunculoides, Linioptiis nnmiia, (.'(irdiinii minimum, 

 KellieUa milliaris, Syndosmy a-^pccies, A'ecera obesa, X. rostmta, 

 Deidalium occidentah, D. agile, SiphonodcntAium quinquangulare. 

 Scaphander lignarius. 



Ostracoda: — Cypridina norvegica. 



Isopoda : — J/MJino^w/*- typicu, Eiiiyeope eunuda. 



Schizopoda: — Boreomysis tridens, Psendomma roseiim. 



Decapoda: — Pontophilus norvegicus, Munida rugosa, M. tenui- 

 mana. 



Afeidiu: — Ascidia gelatinosa. 



The above list gives some of the species which are constantly 

 found on the clay at the bottom of rather deep water. Many of 

 these forms are undoubtedly mud-eaters, more especially is this the 

 case with reg-ard to the above mentioned Holothurioidea. Some of them 



appear to be dependent upon ocean water (t = 6—7" C, s = about 

 3.") "on). According to OsTFiidHKX,') BuUiyphles natans, Mrsotharia 

 iiilestiiKdis-. Ciiciiiiiinid hispiilii ;ind Myriotrochus ritrens are not 

 iouiid ill Norwegian lionls further north than the Vest Fiord. It 

 is characteristic that I took several s])ecimciis of Bathyplotrs natans 

 and Mrsothiiria intcstiiialis in the Salten Fiord where the tempe- 

 rature was ri",(),') r. an<l the salinity 35, 1.3 7o„, while in the 

 Skjerstad Fiord, wliieh is only a little further in, where t = 3", 

 2 and s -= 34 "/,„., not a single specimen was to be seen in all 

 the dredgings made. Balhyjilote.< occurs in rather larg'e numbers 

 at its northern limit; at the station at the mouth of the Folden 

 Fiord at a deptli of 530 m., 20 individuals of this species were 

 taken, but only 4 Mesotharia. Of clay-bottom molluscs, which have 

 not hitherto been found noi-tli of Lofoten, tlie following may bo 

 mentioned: — 



MaUetia ohtusa, Kellirllii miUinris, Den ta Ham agile, Seaphander 

 lignarius etc. The deepwater fauna on the mud-bottom is remark- 

 ably uniform in the large fiords which are filled with ocean water, 

 from the Bokn Fiord to the Vest Fioi-d, nothwithstandin.g- that the 

 Vest Fiord and its adjacent fiords contain some forms which are 

 wanting in the Bokn Fiord. Further investigations will probably 

 equalize this apparent difference to some extent, foi- instance, I 

 have latterly found Rhizocrinus lofotensis also in the Bokn Fiord. 

 But it will probably be found that such a species as ilocyathiis 

 arcticus cannot be included among the fauna of the Bokn Fiord, 

 this species must, judging from what is up to the present knoAvn 

 with regard to its disti-ibulion, be considered to be an arctic species, 

 which has been able to exist under the natural conditions deter- 

 mined by the ocean water which penetrates into the fiords. On 

 the whole, one may say that, zoogeographically speaking, the deep 

 water fauna on the clay-bottom of the fiords in question are spe- 

 cially remarkable on account of the large number of foi-ms in them 

 which have a wide distribution southwards. But, north of Lofoten, 

 the fauna on the clay have t^uite another character. The southern 

 forms disappear, and the northern ones take their place. At my 

 stations in the Lyngen Fiord (Lyngen II and III) at the re- 

 spective depths of 250 and 320 m. on clay-bottom such forms as 

 the following occurred in large quantities: — Ctenodiscus erispatus, 

 Myriotrochus rinlci, Pecten groenlandicus and Astarte ci-enata. Here 

 too were found Siphonodentalimn vitreum, Sealaria groenlandiea, 

 Bela exarata etc. The peculiar arctic Bryozo, Aleyonidium disci- 

 forme, was also taken here. Diastylis goodsiri, Pseudomma trun- 

 catum and many other arctic forms also occurred. At the station 

 Lyngen II,' d = 250 m., t = 2'',85 C, s = 34,47 7oo, and at 

 Lyngen III, d = 320 m., t -= 3",G5 C. and s = 34,84 "/oo. 

 At both stations in the Lyngen Fioi-d, several specimens of two 

 actinia species were taken, but none were conserved. If I remem- 

 ber rightly, they were Aetinostoln callosa and Bolocera tuediae. 



Edwardsia andresi and Epizoanthus crdmanni were also found. 

 As I have previously mentioned, there is another character over 

 the fauna in the deep waters of the Malangen Fiord, and if we go 

 as far as to Lyngen aud Kvænangen, the difference is even more 

 striking. In the deep waters of Kvænangen where d = 343 m., 

 t = 2'',3 C, and s = 34,49 Voo, were found, for instance, 

 Myriotrochus rinh, Polychæta, e. g. Harmothoe rarispina, Nephthys 

 malmgr-eni, N. ciliata, Nieomache lumbriccdis, Terebellides stromi. 



Mollusca: — Pecten groenlandicus, Area pecttinculoides, var. 

 septentrionalis, Astarte crenata, SiphonodentaVmm. titreum etc. 



I) T)ie HoMliuriuldea of Noi 



Bero-. Mils. A:iih. li)02, Nc 

 31 



