698 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



any such protoplasm at the bottom of the sea, and the once famous 

 Bathi/bius is gradually being swept away by the stream of oblivion. 



It is therefore a fact of the greatest interest that just as simple, just 

 as shapeless, and just as unlimited an organism has been proved to exist 

 not at the bottom of the sea, but near the surface of, the Polar Sea 

 whose waters are filled with melting ice. The careful microscopic ob- 

 servations made on board, and the drawings made of the fresh and liv- 

 ing protoplasm, will in future exclude every doubt as to its existence. 

 The Batliyhius has thus in a manner been resurrected, although the 

 nature of the protoplasm spoken of here will make it necessary to give 

 it another name. The scientific interest taken in this protoplasm will 

 be the same as that once taken in the now defunct Bathi/bius. 



I said before that this sea-slime would be of great interest even from 

 a practical jioint of view. I shall return to this subject in the report 

 which I intend to publish on the practical and scientific investigations 

 of the fisheries made during this expedition. It will be sufficient in 

 this place to direct attention to the circumstance that the very occur- 

 rence of this organic matter in the arctic waters is the principal cause of 

 its great wealth offish, and especially of the large number of individ- 

 uals of certain species which form the chief objects of our most impor- 

 tant fisheries, principally pelagian fish, herring and mackerel, but also, 

 though more indirectly, codfish and pollack, in as far as both these fish 

 of prey feed to a great extent on the two first-mentioned fish. 



This is scarcely the place to give a detailed account of the many new 

 and interesting discoveries in the difi"ereut branches of zoology which 

 were made on this expedition. I will only say in conclusion that if we 

 review all that has been done by the expedition in diflerent directions, 

 we ought to be well satisfied with this year's results. The practice and 

 experience gained during the preceding year, together with the favor- 

 able weather and the lively interest taken in the expedition by all its 

 participants, have all contributed their share toward its success, and 

 we are fully justified in expecting that the next expedition, which is to 

 go out in 1878, will increase still more our knowledge of the physical and 

 biological character of the iiTorthern Sea. 



V. 



EEPORT Oi^ THE PRACTICAL AXD SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGA- 

 TION OF THE SALT-WATER FISHERIES, MADE DURING 

 THE SECOND NORWEGIAN POLAR EXPEDITION OF 1877. 



Although the Storthing (Norwegian Parliament) has for every finan- 

 cial year appropriated a considerable sum for continuing the practical 

 and scientific investigations which J have carried on for a number of 



