Tres 
in point of age, and quality, of the North Sea hauls will shortly be published by 
Mr. PAUL BJERKAN. 
If we compare these results with the composition in point of age of the Norwegian 
race of herring, we find this similarity, that both races exhibit some remarkably rich 
year classes, not however, in both cases from the same year. There is probably 
also this point of difference, that the richness of these year classes is more pronounced 
in the case of the Norwegian race than in that of the North Sea fish. The fluctuations 
in the herring fishery of the North Sea are therefore slighter than in that of the 
Norwegian waters. 
This is, however, a point for future investigations to further examine and test. 
CLP RATE 
The cod, its spawning, migrations and size. 
Geographical distribution of the Gadoid species. 
Of all the fish which live and move upon the sea floor, (bottom fish) the Gadoid 
species are the most important from the point of view of the fishing industry. The 
present writer has, in an earlier paper*), compiled a survey, based upon the inter- 
national statistics, of the yield in all the countries of northern Europe within the whole 
expanse of water from the Barents Sea to the coasts of Portugal and Morocco, for the 
year 1906. The total yield of bottom fish for the whole of the great area embraced amoun- 
ted in this year to 973,484 tons, of which no less than 81 % belonged to the cod family, 
next in point of importance being the flatfish (Pleuronectidae) with 11 %. The respective 
yields of the remaining genera were comparitively small. Of the Gadoids again, the 
most important is the cod, as will be seen from the following table. 
(COL ME ee 3 AALY 
Coaltishen eg eg 3.3 » 
HAUTE + s5c0c00000000e 25.0 » 
Bollacke ne eer ines: 0.1 » 
IV VIE I oo Boro owe tio ee 2.4 » 
Ln otters dese get DD) 
ee ee 2.9 » 
SE N 1.0 » 
These percentages apply, as already mentioned, to the whole of the region from 
the Barents Sea to Morocco. If we compare the various waters therein included, we 
find, from the statements of the statistics, that the importance of these species differs 
greatly in the different waters. This will be seen from the following table, showing the 
*) Joan Murray and Jonan Hyorr, The Depths of the Ocean. Chap. VIII. Fishes from the 
Sea Bottom, pp. 441—442. 
11 
