212 Part III —Twenty-fourth Annual Report 
3 Year, - et: grammes, or 27 OZ. 
a ’ 3 : 0 ’ 293 
23 : - 97-4 ” ‘ 33 ” 
32) 5 = 4 atslOP7/ - 7 134 ,, 
45 4 ay CAA) es » 4 lbs. 11 3 
bse - 7000 ‘i 5, Lo-lbs....102.;; 
The spawning period at Iceland is much the same as in the North Sea, 
and Dr. Schmidt found that the cod of the last group, with an average 
size of 88cm., and ranging from “a little under 70cm. and upwards,” in 
July, had spawned in the spring, while those of the group, with an 
average of about 60cm. (24 inches), would spawn for the first time in the 
following year. 
It may seem to one possible that the second group of small cod, with 
an average size of 44 inches, might have been spawned in the spring of 
the year, and that the smaller fish, taken on the north coast, have a 
different rate of growth there. It must be remembered, however, as 
Dr. Schmidt has so well shown, that the physical conditions, as tempera- 
ture, vary very much at different parts of the coast of Iceland, and that 
the life and wanderings of the cod are influenced thereby. He, moreover, 
gives a table showing the growth of young cod at one place (Seydisfjord), 
and all taken in this case with one apparatus, the eel-seine, between 23rd 
May and 17th—23rd September, 1903. On 23rd May 180 measured 
from 7cm. to llem., with au average of about 9cm. (34 inches) ; on 23rd 
July 3300 measured from 10cm. to 17cm. (4-62 inches), the average size 
being placed by him at 12cm. (43 inches), though it might perhaps be better 
at 13cm.; on 17th—23rd September 1350 measured from 13cm. to 20cm. 
(51-7% inches), the average being at 16cm. (6} inches). The first group 
thus grew about 3cm. (17 inches) in the two months May-July ; in the 
two months from July to September the growth amounted to 4em 
(14 inches), and in the whole period of four months it amounted to 7cm., 
or 22? inches. In the September collection, moreover, 30 much smaller 
cod were obtained, measuring +cm. and 5cm. (14-2 inches), and relating 
these to the older group, and taking their average size at 4cm., the 
growth over the winter would amount to only 5cm., or 2 inches, and from 
September to September it amounted to about 12cm., or 4? inches. These 
fish were caught between the shore and 5 fathoms depth. 
A collectiou made with the eel-seine, from the shore to 64 fathoms, on 
9th September, 1903, at Vaagfjord, Suder, in the Feroes, showed three 
groups :—(1) The young of the same year, 277 in number, measuring 
from 4cm. to 12cm. (17-4 inches), with an average size of about 7cm. 
(2 inches) ; (2) a group of 87, measuring from 17cm. to 3lem. (63-127 
inches), about 14 years old, or more, and with an average size of about 
25cm. (9? inches) ; (3) a group of 5 cod, from 37cm. to 4lem. (144-163 
inches). These results agree well with my own, and show an increase in 
the year of about 18cm. (74 inches), 
Recently a good deal of attention has been given, especially by German 
investigators, to the growth of fishes as indicated by the markings on the 
bones, otoliths, and scales. Mr. Stuart Thomson investigated the age of 
cod by means of the markings on the scales. The specimens were taken on 
26th August, and measured 20°9cm. (8} inches) and 25:lem. (9°9 inches), 
and the age determined in each case was about one year and 4—5 months ; 
the fish were thus well on in their second summer's growth. The result 
agrees with those obtained by me, as Mr. Thomson points out ; they tally 
almost exactly with the collection on 22nd August, referred to in the 
Table below, 
