264 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



of tlie trawl, by the iusiguiflcaut stietcbiug of tlie accumulator, tluit the 

 apparatus for some reason or other had not followed the bottom. In 

 spite of this fact the net had caught in the stratum of water nearest 

 above the sea -bed two specimens of the sea fauna of such extraordinary 

 interest that they abundantly repaid the trouble and care we had given 

 to this haul. One of these was a fish, the other a cuttle-fish, both alike 

 remarkable and interesting. The fish was of a brilliant scarlet color, 

 with extraordinarily far-projecting, thread-like ventral fins, and belonged 

 to a hitherto entirely unknown genus and species of the cod family.* 

 The cuttle-fish likewise proved to be a new species of the remarkable 

 and hitherto but little known genus Cirroteuthis. Of both a drawing 

 in colors was immediately made, which will be of valuable service in the 

 j)reparation of the final report. 



On the following morning we were surrounded on all sides by a dense 

 fog so that we could see scarcelj^more than a few fathoms from the ship. 

 The wind changed successively from north to northwest and west, which, 

 in connection with the position of the barometer, indicated that we were 

 just passing the north side of a tornado and that we in all probability 

 soon would be outside of its range. By the heavy swell setting in from 

 the southwest we were also informed with sufficient certainty that there 

 was at no very great distance from us to the south a storm, and that, 

 too, one of the very worst sort, so that we deemed ourselves fortunate 

 that we on this occasion found ourselves so far into the Arctic Sea. 

 Toward evening the sea became remarkably smooth, and an icy cold 

 filled the atmosphere. In the west was seen toward the horizon a pe- 

 culiarly clear glimmering in the air, which we already, from oiu' former 

 cruise, recognized as being ice-blink. At 9^ o'clock "Drift-ice ahead!" 

 was shouted, and a piece of ice, much worn and perforated by the sea, 

 came slowly floating jmst our ship, the first messenger from the Green- 

 land ice. This was followed by still another, then by more and more, 

 and finally the sea was filled on all sides with blocks of aU possible 

 sizes and of the most fantastic forms. Colossal mushrooms with hollow, 

 beautiful, bright, green stems ; swans, with far-extended necks ; boats, 

 with full crews ; wonderfully jagged, pillars stooping or leaning in vari- 

 ous directions ; flats sloping irregularly and half hid in the sea, crowded 

 one on the top of the other — in short, the most extravagant forms ])assed 

 in review before our ship as we progressed. Tar out in the horizon was 

 discovered a snow-white irregularly winding line, from which single blu- 

 ish tops reared their heads, and over which a clear ice-blink, not unlike 

 a sort of aurora borealis, appeared. Here the ice seemed to be more 

 continuous, and our experienced pilot, who was sent aloft in order that 

 he might be able to form a more accurate estimate of the situjition, 

 advised us that fiu'ther progress westward was impossible. We had 

 reached the Greenland ice, and although this had taken i)lace somewhat 

 sooner than calculated in our plan, we had to submit to the inevitable 



*Ehodichthys regina CoUett. — T. H. B. 



