SALT-WATER FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 683 



During the expedition the dredge was used sixteen times ; the trawl- 

 net, twelve times ; the two combined, twice ; and the swab, once. Al- 

 together, not less than thirty-one separate hauls were made, and of 

 these only very few were entire failures, while most of them yielded 

 very satisfactory results. Besides this apparatus, the surface-net has 

 been used very frequently for the purpose of examining the pelagian 

 animals living near the surface. The dredge has also been used from 

 boats in the Sognefiord, near Huso, near Thorshavn, on the Faroe 

 Islands, and in the bay of Eo;^kjavik. Without specifying the numer- 

 ous animals brought up from the depth of the sea in this manner, it 

 must be said that of nearly all classes new and interesting specimens ' 

 have been obtained, extensive descriptions of which, accompanied by 

 plates, will be published. 



The greatest depth reached during the expedition was 2,000 fathoms, 

 about half-way between Norway and Iceland, and several hauls were 

 made at a depth of upward of 1,000 fathoms. The zoological observa- 

 tions were begun in the Sognefiord, where the considerable depth of 

 650 fathoms was reached, the greatest depth which had ever been 

 examined near our coasts. Here the usual deep-water fauna was found, 

 well known from former investigations, especially those of the Hard- 

 angerfiord, although several very rare specimens were also obtained ; 

 among the rest, a well-preserved specimen of the species Brisinga, given 

 by Asbjornsen [Brisinfja corotiata, G. O. Sars), several specimens of the 

 interesting Gephyre Priapuloides Mcaudata, Danielseu, hitherto only ob- 

 served near Vadso, and large numbers of a beautiful red crustacean 

 with brilliant eyes shining like gold, formerly only found in very small 

 numbers, Mtmida tenuimana^ G. O. Sars. 



The observations became more interesting when the expedition reached 

 the barrier stretching at some distance from our western coast, whose out- 

 ermost boundary is the so-called "sea-bridge" — [Havhro). Here begins, 

 below a depth of 300 fathoms, the cold area or Polar Sea deep, which 

 hitherto has been but little explored. It has a bottom-temperature of 

 0° to — 1.6° C., and the fauna in accordance with this temperature has 

 a very peculiar character, entirely d liferent from that of our southern 

 and western coast. Seventeen of our hauls were made in this cold area, 

 and from these a tolerably correct idea may be formed of the peculiar 

 physical and biological condition of this region. All over the large 

 depression which occupied the greater portion of the bottom of the sea 

 between Norway on one side and the Faroe Islands and Iceland on the 

 other, the bottom at a depth of more than one thousand fathoms seems 

 to consist of a peculiarly loose, sticky, light, almost grayish- white clay, 

 which contains a great deal of lime, and, after being washed or sifted, 

 proves to consist almost exclusively of shells of a very low organism, 

 a foraminifer, the Biloculina, The expedition therefore called this deep- 

 water clay "biloculina clay," to distinguish it from that kind of clay 

 which is found in the warm area at a great depth in the Atlantic, and 



