590 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



as the weather would get calm I would find the young codfish again in their 

 usual places, and that consequently there would be no gap in the series 

 of my observatious; but in this I was mistaken. When at length I again 

 visited my usual fishing places, I found the sea-water quite clear and 

 transparent. Of the " herring-food" which formerly had filled the sea, 

 not the least trace could be found, and with it the young codfish had 

 likewise disappeared entirely. In vain did I examine all the neighbor- 

 ing sounds and inlets ; not a single young codfish could I find. I began 

 to fear that they had left the coast for good, and their appearance in 

 great masses on the day mentioned before had been a premonitory sign 

 of their departure, analogous to the assembling of the birds of passage 

 before their departure for southern latitudes. 



Hoping to meet with a few stragglers, I made use of the first fine day 

 (the 23d June) for an excursion far out on the Westfiord to a distance 

 of more than one (]S"orwegian) mile from Skraaven, and, after a long 

 search, I discovered a few swimming near the surface seemingly lost 

 from their comrades. These were the only ones I could discover, 

 although I was on the lookout the whole day. Everything seemed to 

 indicate that their stay near the shore was actually over, and after hav- 

 ing searched for a few days longer I began to think of my return, con- 

 vincecl that I had extended my observations as far as j)ossible. But 

 before returning I resolved to make a last attempt and institute a search 

 near some other fishing-station. 



Several reasons induced me to select Brettesnaes, which is about a 

 (Norwegian) mile farther north. The first few days I was just as un- 

 successful as at Skraaven, and I therefore began to lose all hope of find- 

 ing them again, when, on a beautiful calm day (the 5th July), I acci- 

 dentally, while roving about on one of the deep inlets, discovered a young 

 fish which was almost entirely concealed under a large medusa [Cyanca 

 capillafa) so that only its tail could be seen peeping forth. By means 

 of a dipper of fine gauze I succeeded in catching the medusa and the 

 young fish with it, and to my joy I found it really was a young codfish. 

 You may imagine that I now scanned all the medusce, which are very 

 common here, very closely, and I found the same phenomenon repeated. 

 Under most of them I found one or more young fish. These were not 

 all codfish, however, for among them I also found another kind of young 

 fish, easily distinguished by their shorter and stouter shape, and, on 

 closer examination, I discovered that they were the young of the Gadus 

 mjlefinus, or the haddock. Only these two kinds of young fish and none 

 else I found under these peculiar circumstances. I did not find a single 

 young pollack under any medusa, although the sea was full of them at 

 this time. 



What can be the cause of this very peculiar relation between two such 

 different animals '? This was naturally the first question I asked. That 

 these very tender young fish at this stage of their development should 

 seek the medusae, these jelly-like aquatic animals whose numberless 



