-— 
for the small young cod, but never found any till the end of July, and in 
greater numbers not till the beginning of August. They are then already 
from 1—4 inches long, generally at least 2—3 inches, and can no more be 
called tender fry, as they can swim well and, im spite of the current, stay 
where they like). In 1899, on the 12th of August, at Fænø, as many as 
59 specimens of these somewhat larger young codfish were thus caught in 
a haul of a quarter of an hour, with eel-seine, on zostera bottom; but this 
number was unusually large, for nowhere have I seen them so numerous 
afterwards. The narrows of the Little Belt, on the whole, seem to be a 
favourite dwelling-place for these little fish, as for several other animals 
which are carried far to the north by the current. In the seas north of 
Funen and in the Great Belt, on the other hand, I got, in 1899, only very 
few in each haul, if, indeed, I 
got any at all. — The picture (fig. 
1) shows how a young cod looks, 
about half a year old. Except in 
colour, it has in all respects the 
appearance of the larger cod. But 
the colours are grouped, in a cha- 
racteristic way, in dark and light 


spots on both sides of the body, "& age J 
so that the fish gets a checkered å | 
Fig. 1. Å young cod, about half a year old. 
appearance. This has already been (A little larger than the natural size). 
described by Sars and pictured 
by Hjort, whose picture, however, seems to me to be less satisfactory. 
To give an idea of the size and appearance of the quite tender fry, 
just hatched from the eggs, I add figure 2. The young 
558 gg "| are here represented a little larger than their natural size. 
| "HS Sj DD The large yolk-sac on the stomach and the 4 or d black 
49" &, spots on the body characterize these quite young stages. 
KE Stand? To be quite sure that I had not somehow overlooked 
the tender fry, the investigations were repeated in 1900; 
Fig. 2. Fry of but the result was that no tender fry was found and that, 
cod,justhatched. of the fry of the year, none at all was living in the Little 
(A little larger than Sand the Great Belt till the month of August, and now, 
the natural size.) z g ; 
moreover, in much smaller numbers than in 1899, viz. at 
most 2—3 in the haul. On the other hand, the following group (the fry 
of last year) was much more numerous than the corresponding group had 
+) By the extensive gathering-in of plancton which, for two years, has been carried 
on at ten stations in the Danish seas, every fortnight all the year round, very small young 
cod, just hatched from the egg, have been gathered; but their number is very small, nay 
exceedingly small in proportion to the number of fecundated eggs which are found in our 
seas. On the whole, the young of pelagic eggs are very rare in these collections. In 
proportion to the number of pelagic eggs which are gathered in — amounting to many 
