MODERN INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SUBJECT 5 



coarse sand, and were found even on the backs of small living 



D 



crabs. The Report just mentioned contains a summary of all 

 that the Commissioners, two of whom were Dr. Lyon Playfair 

 and Mr. T. H. Huxley, could discover concerning the natural 

 history of the herring, but their conclusions were almost entirely 

 founded on the evidence afforded by the assertions of others, 

 evidence in the ordinary legal sense, not on circumstantial 

 evidence examined by themselves at first hand. Professor 

 Allman's observations, however, have been confirmed and 

 extended since that time, and he was the first to establish the 

 fact that the spawn of the herring, like that of many shore fishes 

 and fresh-water fishes, adheres to solid objects in the water. 



But one of the fundamental and most important facts 

 concerning the mode of life of sea fishes is that the spawn of a 

 great many of them is buoyant, and floats about invisible in the 

 waters of the sea. The story of the discovery of such spawn 

 was written by the discoverer himself in a very interesting 

 manner. But it \vas written in the Norwegian language, and is 

 only available for English readers in the translation provided by 

 the United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, in one of 

 his bulky annual reports, that for 1877. In the year 1864 and 

 some following years, the Norwegian Government commissioned 

 Mr. G. O. Sars, a qualified naturalist of the Christiania University, 

 to carry out an examination of the cod-fisheries of the Lofoten 

 Islands, and of the natural history of the cod. In his report Mr. 

 Sars says that he had in former times heard from fishermen that 

 the roe of the cod could be seen floating in the water, and that it 

 was sometimes so abundant as to make the water thick. But he 

 knew that the eggs of many fresh-water fishes and of sea fishes 

 found near the shore were attached to stones or weeds, and he 

 knew that many kinds of lower aquatic animals swarm in the 

 surface waters of the sea. He supposed, therefore, that this 

 opinion of the fishermen was a mistake. However, when he 

 investigated the matter off the coast of the Lofoten Islands, he 

 found that the fishermen were perfectly right. The use of a 

 small, fine net towed through the water from a vessel is necessary 

 for the collection of all the more minute living things which 

 swarm in the waters of the sea, and which, making up by their 

 vast numbers for their small size, play such an important part in 

 the great drama of marine life. The principle of the net is very 



