222 



NA TURE 



\_fU7ie 27, 1878 



only unknown, and that approximate values of the true 

 solar parallax and of the errors of R.A. and N.P.D. 

 should be substituted in the equations. This was done, 

 the mean solar parallax being taken at 8"-85, d R.A. as 

 + 5"-8i, ^N.P.D. as - S"'33, which values resulted from 

 the general solution of the whole of the contact observa- 

 tions, and the following values of d R -\- dr were 

 obtained : — 



The above is perhaps the best way to exhibit the 

 nature of the discordances. They might also have been 

 shown as apparent errors of the tabular distance of 

 centres. 



The discordances of any one station are too large to 

 admit of the measures being employed with advantage 

 for the determination of the solar parallax. They are 

 due to inherent defects of the photographic images. The 

 -reason why at the two northern stations the signs are all 

 minus, while at the three southern they are a.\\ plus, is at 

 present obscure, and I am not prepared to offer any 

 suggestion as to the cause. 



THE NORWEGIAN NORTH ATLANTIC 

 EXPEDITION 



T SEND you inclosed a clip from the Dagbladeii 

 ■*■ containing the route of our expedition for the 

 ■coming summer, I hope to be able to send you 

 notes from our expedition during our sereral stays in 

 Hammerfest. H. Mohn 



"According to the plan of this expedition, the Voeringen 

 was to start from Bergen on its third and last cruise on 

 the 15th inst. It will probably have reached Tromsoe by 

 the 19th inst., and, after taking on board a pilot acquainted 

 with the northern waters, have immediately proceeded to 

 Alten Fiord, mainly to inspect the meteorological station 

 there, and to examine the animal and plant-life of the 

 Fiord bottom. The magnetic observations required for 

 regulating the compasses, &c., were to be made at 

 Hammerfest between the 21st and 24th inst. The course 

 was then to be set eastwards, in order to examine the 

 relations of depth and animal life, &c., in two of the 

 fiords of Finmark. After touching at Vardoe on the 

 27th, the voyage is to be continued to a point midway 

 between Vardoe and Novaya Zemlya, in order to take 

 soundings and determine the boundary of the ice-cold 



water in the East Polar Sea, which hitherto in these regions 

 has only been observed at Bear Island by the well-known 

 Austrian Polar explorer Weyprecht, in his excursion 

 thither several years ago in the Tromsoe yacht Sa7nson. 

 This thorough examination of the sea off the north-east 

 coast of Norway, towards Novaya Zemlya will be of 

 special importance for the study of the migrations of the 

 "lodde" {Maloius arcticus), as it is probable that it is 

 there that this salmon-like fish has its abode whence in 

 spring it makes its way in large shoals to the coast of 

 Finmark to spawn, pursued by the cod, which follows it 

 and is accordingly taken ; while the so-called " lodde " 

 fish, as is well known, is not fished for, because it is not 

 suitable for human food, on account of its penetrating 

 unpleasant odour. 



This eastward cruise of the Voeringen will scarcely 

 occupy more than ten days, as the sea is here so shallow 

 that taking soundings, &c., need not occupy much time, 

 and the Voerins^en may accordingly be expected back at 

 Hammerfest on July 7, to take on board coal, water, &c., 

 for a new cruise to the westward in the navigable waters 

 north of Jan Mayen, which the expedition visited last 

 year ; thence to the Greenland ice, where the seal fishing 

 is usually carried on, in order to ascertain the boundary 

 between the Greenland Polar current and the Gulf 

 Stream. The stretch of sea that will be traversed by 

 the Voeringeti has not hitherto been surveyed, and here 

 will doubtless be found, by means of the lead, the begin- 

 ning of the great Polar sea-depth which runs in between 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen. The Voeringen will then 

 return to Hammerfest to make preparations for the third 

 cruise. 



This cruise, which will be the last, will be commenced 

 on July 29, and be occupied with the survey of the navi- 

 gable waters between Bear Island and Spitzbergen, where 

 the well-known shark fishing is prosecuted, and the great 

 sea-deeps off the west coast of Spitzbergen (76" to 80° 

 N. lat.) which hitherto have only been surveyed, and that 

 incompletely, by two of the Swedish expeditions. The 

 Voeringen will go as far north as it can for ice, but there 

 is certainly no great expectation that the Norwegian 

 expedition will be successful in carrying off the prize 

 in the competition with other nations to reach the 

 North Pole, for the Voeringen will certainly soon 

 meet with ice in the navigable waters on the north 

 coast of Spitzbergen, and it is not fitted out for a 

 North Pole expedition. Leaving it to the enterprising 

 publisher of the New York Herald and others to 

 endeavour to reach this goal, the Voeringen will, instead, 

 after having turned southwards, survey the fiords and 

 banks on the west coast of Spitzbergen. There the Nor- 

 wegian fishermen, as is well known, carry on a not incon- 

 siderable cod-fishing, the yearly catch numbering 300,000 

 to 400,000 fish. But if we keep in view the recent disco- 

 very of the great fishing bank off the Lofoten Islands, it 

 will be seen that the fishermen need not undei-take the 

 long and troublesome voyage to Spitzbergen to catch cod. 

 They will find superabundence of larger and better fish at 

 the banks oft" Vesteraalen, so to speak, lying before their 

 own door. But these Lofoten fishing banks are for the 

 time being visited by the Norwegian fishermen as little as 

 the bank abounding in fish which lies off the Froey 

 Islands (north-west of the mouth of Trondhjem Fiord), 

 although the latter was known to old fishermen. The 

 surveying-steamer Hansfeen has now mapped it. It is 

 besides beyond all doubt that one of the practical results 

 of the Norwegian North Atlantic Expeditions will be a 

 better turning to account of the rich fishing banks of 

 whose position, animal and plant life, more precise 

 information has now been obtained. 



The return from Spitzbergen will take place at the end 

 of August, and the Voeringen, after having touched at 

 Hammerfest or Tromsoe, and Bergen, where the mem- 

 bers of the expedition resident there witl land will 



