THE COMMON BASSE. 459 



an enormous size, sharks, porpoises, polypi, and thou- 

 sands of others hesides ; also four-footed animals, such 

 as seals, sea-cows, walruses, turtles, &c.,to say nothing of 

 several kinds of Hafs-Troll,* some of which, syrens for 

 instance, resemble human beings. Tn addition to all 

 these there are in the ocean innumerable other creatures, 

 such as oysters, mussels, periwinkles, crabs and lobsters, 

 so that the sea would appear to be richer than the earth, 

 and amongst the greatest of God's miracles known to us." 



As, however, the worthy divine does not specify the 

 several species of fish found on the western coast of 

 Sweden, of which Bohus-Lan forms a considerable portion, 

 I subjoin, for the information of the ichthyologist, a 

 concise account of them, as well as all others pertaining to 

 the Marine Fauna of the Peninsula, the fresh-water fishes 

 having been already treated of in my last work, " Scan- 

 dinavian Adventures." 



The Common Basse (Hafs-Abborre, or sea-perch, Sw. ; 

 Almindellg [_i. e, common] Bars, Dan.f ; Perca Labrax, 

 Linn.), whose proper home is the Mediterranean, is rare in 

 the Scandinavian seas, and seemingly almost confined to 

 the southern coast of Norway, where it is now and then 

 captured. It has recently been found by M. Malm off 

 the coast of Bohus. A single specimen has been met 

 with as far south as the Sound. It does not appear 

 to be known in the Baltic. Though none of those taken 



'o* 



* Evil spirits that, according to the belief of the ancient Northerners, 

 inhabit the vasty deeps, and an account of which, as also of other Scandinavian 

 superstitions, I may some day submit to the public. 



t Where known to me, I have given the Norwegian names to the 

 several fishes (and the like may be said of the birds), though this has not 

 always been practicable, owing to there being, so far as I am aware, no 

 Natural History of Norway published to which reference might be made. 

 In lieu of the Norwegian names, I have in many instances given them in 

 Danish, by which, although the written language of Norway, they may not, 

 however, be popularly known in that country. 



