BREEDING PLACES OF THE EEL SCHMIDT 293 



The graph, station 1040, Figure 4, gives a good idea of the size 

 of the larvae in autumn in the western Atlantic. In the first 

 place, it will be seen that the smallest specimen was 17 mm. long 

 only — a marked lowering of the previous minimum record of 

 34 mm. — but, despite the intensive fishery, only a single specimen 

 of this small size was taken throughout the whole cruise, and only 

 a very few slightly larger, 2-3 cm., amounting to 1-2 per cent of the 

 total number. Furthermore, the graph shows that an overwhelm- 

 ing majority of the larva? were of sizes varying between 3i/^ and 

 41/2 cm. in length. (As mentioned above, no specimen over 5 cm. 

 was taken by the Margrethe in the western area, west of the line 

 referred to on page 291.) 



These facts, in my opinion, warranted the following conclusions: 

 The spawning of the eel can not go on regularly throughout the 

 whole year ; there must, in autumn at any rate, be a cessation or de- 

 crease in the production, otherwise we must have found tiny larvae 

 in greater numbers at this season. Even though the time when the 

 eels did spawn could not be determined with certainty, the size of the 

 larvae nevertheless rendered it likely that they had come into the 

 world during the first half of the year 1913. We were dealing, that 

 is to say, with larvae in their first year (the O group), and these 

 were as we have seen about 3i/2 cm. long in the autumn. 



Since tiny larvae were, practically speaking, unrepresented in the 

 Margretlie's collections, it was impossible at that season to determine 

 with any certainty the locality of the breeding grounds, since if the 

 larvae were even a few months old — which must seem probable — we 

 could not overlook the possibility of their having been carried by 

 ocean currents far from their place or origin. A calculation of the 

 average length at the different stations, however, was not without 

 interest in this connection, the differences, although not gi^eat, being 

 nevertheless beyond doubt. The lowest average lengths, for instance, 

 were found at stations situated about latitude 26° N"., longitude 55° 

 W. ; from here the larvae increased in size both toward the north and 

 toward the northwest (in the direction of Bermuda). To the south, 

 as mentioned, the larvae were entirely lacking. 



This was, generally speaking, the result of the work of the Mar- 

 grethe on her cruise to the West Indies. It had been intended to 

 spend the winter in fisheries investigations at St. Thomas, and then, 

 following up the work of the outward voyage of the Margrethe, to 

 continue the eel investigations during the voyage home in spring. 

 Fate, however, ordered otherwise; the Margrethe ran aground on 

 one of the West Indian islands and was wrecked. 



The collections, fortunately, were saved, but here we were at St. 

 Thomas with no ship. The only thing to be done for the moment was 



