SALT-WATER FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 685 



ceans are swarming everywhere, long tailed decapods {Crangon), finely 

 built musidai {Erythrops, Parerythrops^ Fseudomma)^ large numbers of 

 amphipods {Anonyx) and isopoda [Mumiopsida). Like tall pine-trees ris- 

 ing above the lower forest trees, the gigantic umbellularia tower above 

 all the rest with their straight trunks and beautiful tops garnished with 

 fringed polyps. The light of day does not penetrate into these depths, 

 but the animals themselves illumine these submarine forests, as nearly 

 all of them are phosphorescent to a high degree, having the faculty of 

 emitting from their bodies a very strong bluish, greenish, or reddish 

 light. 



Whenever the dredge or the trawl-net reached this region, which from 

 its most characteristic animal form may well be called the region of the 

 umbellularia, rich zoological results were obtained, and in most cases a 

 day was too short a time to examine and preserve all these treasures 

 brought up from the deep. Higher up, at a depth of 200-100 fathoms, 

 and at a distance of 10-20 (Norwegian) miles from the coast, the long- 

 stretched barrier commences, which, so to speak, forms the foundation 

 on which our country rests and which separates it from the so-called 

 Polar deep. This barrier generally commences with a hard stony bottom, 

 and our dredgings were therefore connected with considerable diffi- 

 culties. Numerous boulders, whose smooth round shape shows distinctly 

 that once upon a time they have been exposed to the powerful influence 

 of great masses of ice, are scattered about on the very uneven bottom, 

 consisting of firm rock, and hinder the operation of the dredge or stop 

 up its opening, so that in most cases only very imperfect specimens of 

 the fauna of this region could be obtained. This fauna has a very differ- 

 ent character from the preceding one, and resembles more the usual 

 coast fauna ; but it seems to be a rule that at this very point, the edge 

 of the barrier, it is richer than nearer the coast, which seems to agree 

 with the great wealth of fishes known to exist in these regions from 

 olden times. 



If in conclusion we combine all the physical and biological conditions — 

 of which only a very superficial idea has been given here — in the por- 

 tions of the ocean traversed by our expedition, the deeps surrounding 

 our country may from a physiographic and zoographic point of view be 

 divided into two very different regions, viz, the warm and the cold area. 

 The former embraces the whole Skagerak and the North Sea and far- 

 ther north the sea near our coasts till within a distance of 10-20 (Nor- 

 wegian) miles, including all the fiords, and extends north to the north- 

 ernmost point of Finmarken. The cold area begins where the bottom 

 slants from the banks towards the great outer deep, extends in a south- 

 erly direction as far as the heights of Stadt, and continues in a south- 

 westerly direction in the shape of a narrow wedge between the Faroe 

 Islands and the Shetland Islands to the 60th degree of northern latitude. 

 Towards the north the cold area extends to the North Pole, which is its 

 central point. This area has been examined by the expedition at one 



