THE COD FISHERIES NEAR THE LOFFODEN ISLANDS. 583 



the other side ouly waiting for a chauge of temperature to cross the 

 ridge was sufficiently proved by the rich hauls which some lishermeii 

 made whose lines or nets extended exceptionally far beyond the ridge. 

 I had thus a complete corroboration of the opinion expressed by me in 

 my last report, that the temperature of the sea-water has a great iufluence 

 on the lisheries. 



As soon as the weather changed, the tish came upon the elevated 

 bottoms in enormous masses, and everywhere rich hauls were made 

 with all sorts of fishing-implements. The so-called " fish-mountain " 

 which entered the portion of the sea between Skraaven and Svolvaer seems 

 to have been enormously large, to judge from the endless quantity of 

 spawn. 



Some time after this, I found, on a calm day, that whole part of the 

 sea covered with a thick layer of floating spawn in various stages of de- 

 velopment, so that with a large gauze net I could have taken tons of it. 

 I obtained a quantity of eggs for the purpose of making further obser- 

 vations, and, in a few days, I saw, to my great joy, that my glass jars 

 were full of codfish-fry. By changing the water, I kept them alive for 

 more than two weeks, during which time they had completely lost their 

 large umbilical bags. After this time, however, one after the other of 

 the little fish died, probably from want of the necessary food. But as 

 it was my intention this year to study the development of the codfish 

 from its earliest stages, this being the first step toward obtaining a 

 thorough knowledge of the natural history of this fish, I could not rest 

 satisfied vsith this first experiment. The earliest stages of the develop- 

 ment of the egg I would only be able to observe by artificial impreg- 

 nation. I therefore obtained some mature eggs of recently-caught fish, 

 placed them in a glass vessel containing sea-water and mixed with it a 

 small quantity of milt. Microscopic observations proved unmistakably, 

 after only one hour had elapsed, that nearly all the eggs had become 

 impregnated. 



I continued my observations from hour to hour, and could thus ob- 

 serve the minutest details of the many remarkable changes which the 

 egg undergoes until the foetus begins to show itself. After eight days, 

 the outline of the fcBtus could be seen distinctly in the eggs, and after 

 eighteen days, I had the pleasure to see the tender little codfish come out 

 of the eggs which I had impregnated. I have accurately studied this 

 whole development, and have laid my observations before the Associa- 

 tion of fScieuce, accompanied by drawings giving every stage of the de- 

 velopment on a magnified scale. By request, I have also exhibited some 

 of the principal drawings at the fishery exposition in Bergen. 



My careful observations of the development of the codfish-eggs have 

 been made not exclusively with a scientific object. These practical and 

 scientific investigations of our fisheries, which have been made through 

 the liberality of our Storthing, have brought to light a very impor- 

 tant fact regarding the propagation of the codfish, which is not only of 



