594 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 



This whole chase is carried on so rapidly, and the young fish stay 

 only so short a time near the surface of the water, before they are again 

 scattered in all directions with lightning-like rapidity, that it was not 

 even possible for me to see any, much less catch them with my insuffi- 

 cient implements. 



The next time I went out I took a couple of good fishing-lines, hoping 

 to catch a pollack whose stomach might contain some young codfish in a 

 good state of preservation, and I actually succeeded in this manner in 

 obtaining a few well-preserved specimens, and once I even found in the 

 stomach of a pollack, which I opened immediately after it had been 

 caught, a live young codfish measuring eighty millimeters in length, 

 which, when placed in a glass containing fresh sea-water, recovered 

 rapidly and swam about in the water, so that on my return I could sub- 

 ject it to a thorough examination and could draw its picture. 



After I had staid several days near Skraaven, I went on the 31st 

 July to Brettesnses, where, during the preceding year, I had noticed 

 young codfish ; I expected to find in the deep inlets large numbers of 

 medusae and possibly near them some young codfish, but I was disap- 

 pointed in my expectations. The unusually cold and raw weather which 

 had prevailed during the early part of the summer seemed to have exer- 

 cised a retarding influence on the development of the medusce, or at any 

 rate to have kept them at a greater distance from the shore and at a 

 greater depth. It was a rare occurrence to find a medusa near the sur- 

 face of the water. In vain did I repeatedly and at different times of 

 the day search all the sounds and inlets in the neighborhood ; I had 

 invariably to come back empty-handed. But I observed the same phe- 

 nomena as at Skraaven ; not only the pollack but likewise all the other 

 large fish which I examined had their stomachs full of young fish, among 

 which the codfish preponderated. 



I considered it both a loss of time and an objectless waste of strength to 

 fish for pollack in order to get young codfish, for only in very rare cases 

 could I hope to obtain specimens in a state of preservation which would 

 permit of scientific examination. I therefore resolved to take excursions 

 in various directions, hoping that some chance would turn u^) of observ- 

 ing young codfish. And sooner than I had expected, such an opportu- 

 nity presented itself. It was a beautiful calm day (the 3d August), and 

 I had my fishermen take me out to the deep east of Brettesnses, when I 

 noticed that in a certain i)lace the sea was filled with pieces of algse and 

 other objects which doubtless must have come from the shore and been 

 driven hither by the current. 



On closer examination I found that these objects floating in the sea 

 formed as it were a continuous broad road extending parallel with the 

 coast from the mouth of the Eaft Sound in the north and following all its 

 turns as far south as the eye could reach. A slight breeze which sprang 

 up about this time and produced a gentle ripple on the water, let this road 

 appear more distinctly, as the water within its limits remained perfectly 



