!7 



At' denne Liste vil del mts. al det kun er fas Anne- 

 lidefamilier, der ei ere repræsenterede i den iskolde Ares 

 og ili' forskjellige Familiers Repræsentanter ere mestendels 

 Arter, der ere vel kendte fra Eavstnekninger og Kjonle 

 med temperere! Vand. 



Der er kun enkelte Antydninger til. at den dybe 

 Bundstrøm udenfor Norge, hvis Temperatur er ander 0°, 

 skulde indeholde en særlig, for den karakteristisk Fauna. 

 For Mesteparten af de nve Fonners Vedkommende er del 

 omtrent umuligt at vide. om de ikke ogsaa ville tindes 

 udenfor eller ovenfor den iskolde Area i teiupereret Vand. 

 Der er kun et Dyr. om hvilket det med nogenlunde Sik- 

 kerhed kan antages, at det ialfald fortrinsvis, om ikke 

 udelukkende er eu Koldtyandsbeboer, nemlig Polynoe glo- 

 bifera, G. 0. Sårs. 



Den er fonden af Sårs paa den ydre Skraaning af 

 Storeggen eller den store Fiskebanke udenfor Kristiansund 

 og Prof. Sårs meddeler, at han ogsaa kender denne Form 

 fra Lofoten. Dette kunde antyde, at den ogsaa fore- 

 kommer i tempereret Vand; ellers er den kun kendt fra 

 den iskolde Area: thi der kan neppe være Tvivl om. 

 at jo Prof. Sårs paa Udsiden af Storeggen har skrabet 

 i iskoldt Vand; dette tindes nemlig overalt ved den store 

 Bankes Afheldning mod Atlanterhavsdybet og overalt langs 

 eller paa denne Afheldning synes den ovennævnte Form 

 at leve og, som det synes, i ikke saa ringe Mængde, thi 

 Antallet af indfangede Exemplarer er ingenlunde saa lidet. 

 Der er nu intet særligt at opdage ved dette Dyrs Byg- 

 ning, der kunde karakterisere det fremfor andre som en 

 udelukkende Beboer af iskoldt Vand eller det store Dyb. 

 Og naar Elders 1 ) fremsætter den Formodning, at Dyb- 

 vandets Beboere stadigt rekruteres ved Afkom af Dyr. der 

 leve paa grundere Vand og at man i denne Omstændighed 

 kunde soge Granden til. at disse Dybvandets Annelider 

 ikke ere farve- og øienløse ligesom Huleboere. — saa 

 synes en saadan Antagelse neppe at kunne opretboldes, 

 naar der tindes om og kun et eneste Exempel paa et Dyr. 

 der er forsynet med Øine og Farve og som maa antages 

 udelukkende at tilhøre de store Dyb. Om der nu for- 

 uden den her omtalte Form ogsaa tindes andre Dyr. 

 der udelukkende tilhøre den kolde Area, lader sig neppe 

 med nogensomhelst Sikkerhed afgore. Mesteparten af de 

 i den kolde Area fundne Dyr ere. som allerede ovenfor 

 bemærket, Former, der ere vel kendte fra Egne med tem- 

 pereret Vand. og ingen andre af de i den kolde Area 

 fundne nve Former ere fundne i saa stort Antal og saa 

 gennemgaaende paa ensartede Lokaliteter udenfor vor hele 

 Kyst, at vi om dem kunne antage med samme Ret som 

 om Polynoe globifera, at de ere udelukkende Koldtvands- 

 beboere; snarere tværtom; en Form Polynoe aspera, der 

 fandtes i 1876 paa Stat. 48 ved Island i den kolde Area, 

 fandtes samme Aar af mig ved Moldøen, og en anden 



Ehlers: Beitrage zur Centniss der Vertioalverbreitung der Bor- 

 stenwiirmer im Meere. Zeitschrift fur wiss. Zoologie, Bd. 55. 



As will be seen from the above List, there are 

 hut few families of Annelids not represented in the frigid 

 area.: and the members of the various families occurring 

 there consist chiefly of species also met with in fjords 



and tracts of ocean belonging to the temperate area. 



There are few indications of any such fact, as 

 that the deep bottom-current off the coast of Norway, 

 in which the temperature of the water is below zero, 



should be characterized by a fauna of its own. As regards 

 the great majority of new fonns, it is indeed well-nigh 

 impossible to tell whether they may not likewise be 

 found both without and above the frigid area in water 

 of a higher temperature than zero. Of one Annelid only. 

 viz. Polynoe globifera, G. 0. Sars, can we infer with 

 comparative certainty, that its favourite, if not its sole 

 habitat, is confined to the cold bottom-strata. 



This animal was taken by Professor Sars on 'the 

 outer slope of Storeggen — the great fishing-bank lying 

 off Christiansund in Norway; and he states his having 

 met with it. too, near the Lofoten Islands. Now, some 

 might infer from this, that it also inhabits water of a 

 higher temperature than zero; but in all other localities 

 from which it is known, the animal has been invariably 

 found to occur in the cold area only; and it will hardly 

 admit of doubt, that Sars, on the outer slope of Storeggen, 

 dredged in ice-cold water, since the cold area extends to 

 where the base of the declivity meets the bottom-water of 

 the Atlantic; and either on or along this slope the form 

 in question would seem to occur, and in some plenty, for 

 the number of specimens collected there was by no means 

 inconsiderable. There is nothing, however, in the structure 

 of this animal from which it might be regarded as exclu- 

 sively inhabiting the frigid area, or indeed great depths; 

 and when Ehlers 1 ventures to assume, that the inhabitants 

 of the great depths have their numbers constantly recruited 

 from the offspring of animals living in shallower water, 

 and that in this circumstance lies the reason of deep-water 

 Annelids not being colourless and without eyes like the 

 inhabitants of caves (Hohlenbewohnern), such an assumption 

 must certainly give way before the occurrence of even a 

 single form both coloured and furnished with eyes, and 

 whose habitat we must regard as exclusively confined to the 

 great depths. Whether there be other animals, besides 

 the said form, inhabiting the cold area alone, can hardly 

 be stated with certainty. Most of the animals collected 

 in the cold area belong to forms which, as previously 

 stated, are well known from water of a higher tempera- 

 ture than zero, and none of the new forms found in the 

 frigid area were met with off the Norwegian coast in 

 such considerable numbers and such uniform localities as 

 to warrant our assuming that, like Polynoe globifera, they 

 exclusively inhabit the cold-water strata. Another form, 

 Polynoe aspera, obtained at Stat. 48; off the coast of Ice- 



Ehlers: Beitrage sur Kentniss der Vertioalverbreitung derBor- 

 stenwiirmer im Meere. Zeitschrift fur wiss. Zoologie, Bd, 55' 



