framed the hypothesis that, in winter, a current runs southwards 

 from the north-east coast of Iceland to the North Sea, or to the 

 Norwegian coast at Stadt. 



This hypothesis is mainly based on the biological conditions, 

 for, in the Skagerak, there will be found amongst the Plankton, 

 numerous northern forms at the very time the 34 water attains 

 its greatest thickness (see AUEIVILLIUS [96], CLEVE [97]). 



As we shall show in the following remarks, the distribution of 

 the Plankton organisms may be equally well explained by other 

 means, but there are, nevertheless, hydrographical facts which 

 appear to support the hypothesis. 



Thus it will be seen from MOHN'S Chart of Surface Tempera- 

 tures in the Northern Ocean, for March and August, that during 

 the winter a wedge of cold water advances from the east coast of 

 Iceland in a south-east direction towards the Faroe islands. 



It has subsequently been shown by RYDEE [95] that a large 

 portion of the East Greenland Polar current turns eastward, run- 

 ning past the east coast of Iceland, instead of flowing onwards 

 through Denmark Straits. 



A bottle thrown into the sea off the coast of Greenland in 

 72 58' N. lat., and 20 36' W. long., which was picked up after 

 the lapse of three years at the Faroe islands, likewise supports the 

 assumed existence of such a south-flowing Polar current. 



It is a matter of fundamental importance in studying the distri- 

 bution of organisms, and the migration of fishes on the Norwegian 

 banks, to know whether such a current, flowing directly across the 

 Gulf Stream, exists or not. Consequently the Norwegian investi- 

 gations of the past few years have been directed towards solving 

 this question. 



The above mentioned hydrographical section of the Norwegian 

 coastal waters, made by HJOET and NOKDGAAED in 1895 96, did 

 not lead to any decisive result, as the steamers placed at their 

 disposal in the coast towns, were not large enough to proceed to 

 the boundaries of the water layers of the coast. On the other 

 hand, in March and April 1897, HJOET succeeded in obtaining a 

 description of the whole of the Northern Ocean through the courtesy 

 of the masters of sealing and whaling vessels. 



Mr. JOHANNES BULL, a shipowner at Tonsberg, allowed deep 

 water investigations to be made during the voyage of the "Ant- 

 arctic" from Utsire to Iceland in the beginning of March, and also 

 from another of his vessels sailing from Iceland to Finmarken in 

 the beginning of April. 



In addition to the above, L. TUFTE, master of the steamer 

 "Westye Egeberg", and ship-master J. 0. SIM ONSEN, kindly col- 

 lected surface samples of water, and noted the temperatures when 

 sailing to the fishing grounds off Jan Mayen in 1897, while ship- 

 master FODEN did the same, and at the same period, on his course 

 from the Skagerak, south of the Shetlands and Faroe islands to the 

 south western shores of Iceland. The North Sea was jsimultane- 

 ously examined along the steamship routes from Stavanger to Shields, 

 Christianssand to Shields, and Christianssand to Antwerp. 



Plate 3, has been published on the basis of these observations. 

 The lines of temperature are given in red, and the steamship routes 

 in black. The cross lines on them denote stations. Wherever the 

 stations are marked on the chart by a small circle, deep-water 



investigations have been carried out. See besides the Hydrogra- 

 phical Tables B. HE IV. 



Mr. FODEN'S track has not been marked down, as his report 

 only reached us after the tables and plates had been sent to the 

 printers. 



For the sake of comparison, we have published TOENOES' Sum- 

 mer Chart of the Northern Ocean Expedition, supplemented by the 

 results of the Drache Expedition, and by MOHN'S Curves of Tem- 

 perature for August ([87], pi. XXVII) which are denoted on the 

 chart in red. 



In comparing these, it will be seen at once that the water of 

 the Gulf Stream, characterised by a salinity of over 35 %o, is far 

 less widely distributed during the coldest period of the year than 

 during summer; while the Polar current, which in summer barely 

 reaches the south-western point of Iceland, during the course of 

 the winter increases in thickness in two great wedges which extend 

 to 61 and 63 N, lat. 



The results derived from deep-water investigations on the line 

 Utsire Iceland, will be seen on PI. 6, Fig. 1. Both wedges go 

 down to a considerable depth ; the western one being the narrower, 

 but with the lower temperature of the two. The salinity of the 

 eastern wedge at a depth of 200 metres is 34.88 % , and tem- 

 perature 5.4; at a depth of 300 metres 34.97 (see Tables p. 11. 

 238), temperature 5.8. This is thus, probably, Atlantic water which 

 has become somewhat mixed by friction with the surface current. 

 At that period of the year the curve indicates 35 % salinity, or 

 the pervading. temperature-curve for 5. 



Now comes the question. Can the eastern wedge at any time 

 of the year traverse the Gulf Stream either in the direction of 

 Stadt, as the Swedish scientists at first presumed, or southward 

 towards the Shetland Islands and on by the north east coast of 

 England, as is deemed probable by PETTEESSON and EKMAN in their 

 last treatise [98]? In the latter instance, the current might con- 

 tinue in the coastal currents of the North Sea, as indicated by 

 FULTON [97], and convey the waters along the shores of the North 

 Sea and on, past the north west coast of Jutland, in to the Skagerak. 



PETTEES.SON and EKMAN find a support to this assumption in 

 the drift of a bottle which was set afloat by RYDEB off the south 

 coast of Iceland, which, after the lapse of a year, was picked up 

 off Heligoland. 



Our chart, however, shows that the wedges of the Arctic current 

 are certainly stopped by the Gulf Stream in the month of March. 



To the north of Scotland the water is very salt, and the curve 

 of temperature for 7 runs past the Shetland Islands in a north 

 easterly direction towards Stadt. 



In MOHN'S Chart of Temperatures for the Northern Ocean for 

 March, the 7 curve lies still more northerly than we found it in 

 1897; and, as will be seen from the following, the spring of 1897 

 was unusually cold in the Northern Ocean. 



The western wedge, which, in 63 N. lat., has a surface tem- 

 perature of 2.6, is almost imperceptible in 61 N. lat. On Mr. 

 FODEN'S voyage from the Skagerak to Iceland, 3rd to 9th March 

 1897, the temperature on his almost westerly course from 59 53' 

 N. lat., to 63 8' N. lat., and 19 42' W. long., was 7 and up- 

 wards, while the salinity throughout was 35.4 % , or more. The 



