Xn the spring 1899 the present author was invited by the 

 Russian Imperial Inspector of Fisheries Professor O. A. von 

 GrRiMM to partake in an expedition to the Caspian Sea. Dn- 

 ring this expedition I had the opportunity of making sonie 

 observations on the iishes of this region as Avell as collections 

 which are now kept in the Zoological Statemnsenm in Stock- 

 holm. It was at iirst my intention to carry out a more de- 

 tailed comparison between the material bronght home from 

 the Caspian Sea and the corresponding members of onr Scan- 

 dinavian fauna, but as my time has been very much taken 

 np by other work I have not been able to do this to such an 

 extent as I wished, but take, however, the liberty of publish- 

 ing the following notes as they, although incomplete, may 

 contain some additions to the knowledge of the Caspian fauna. 

 — The collections were made at difFerent places, at Petrovsk, 

 at difFerent stations during a cruise över the North Caspian 

 Sea, at Mangischlak, Kulali and Dolgoi in Transcaspia, at 

 Saposknikovs great establishment in the Volga-delta, and in 

 Kura river in Transcaucasia. — The members of the family 

 Gohiidce, including Gohius, Gohiosoma and Benthophilus were 

 immediately delivered to Professor F. A. Smitt, who is pre- 

 paring a memoir on Gobiids. He has therefore kindly pro- 

 mised to give the list of the names of Gobiids for this paper. 

 The other fishes are described by the author. I have in the 

 following notes endeavoured to find out in which direction 

 the development has been carried in difFerent cases and whe- 

 ther there is auy visible difference between the Caspian fishes 

 and the corresponding ones of our Scandinavian fauna. For 

 this purpose I have made some tables of comparative measure- 

 ments according to the system invented by F. A. Smitt. In 

 addition to this the present author intends to comraunicate 

 some notes on the occurrence and biology of those Caspian 

 fishes which he has observed himself, all others being omitted. 



