— 3 — .M »lis. SOHMIDT 



To those who havo in one way or another assisted me during the execution of this 

 work I would iiero express ray best thanks. First of all I must mention my indebtedness 

 to Cand. mag. A. Strubberg both on board ship and on land and also to Stud. mag. Sv. 

 Dahl for the very great work in determining and tabulating the results of our catches. 

 As will often be seen in the following pages, I have received much valuable information 

 from my colleagues on board the "Thor", Cand. mag. I. N. Nielsen and Dr. A. C. Johanskn. 

 With their usual obligingness Mr. E. W. L. Holt of Dublin and Dr. E. J. Allen of Plymouth 

 have sent me material collected on the investigations directed by them; and from Dr. Ad. 

 Cligny of Boiilogne-sur-Mer I have received valuable information on the gadoids occurring 

 in the Bay of Biscay. 



Many thanks are due to Dr. Johan Hjort who has from the beginning shown the greatest 

 appreciation of our Danish investigations in the Atlantic and to Dr. C. G. Joh. Petersen 

 to whom it was principally due that I was able on the cruises of the "Thor" to devote 

 so much time to these investigations. 



Lastly, I would offer my best thanks to Dr. H. M. Ktle for his careful translation of 

 this as of my earlier papers on the gadoids. I esteem greatly the rare good fortune of having 

 as translator an expert from whom 1 have often received valuable information and advice. 



Copenhagen, January 1908. 



Johs. Schmidt 



I. INTRODUCTION 



1. The regions investigated 



The material which forms the basis for the present paper has for the most part been 

 collected by the author himself by means of the Danish research-steamer "Thor" during 

 cruises in the years 1903—1906 inclusive. I have also been able to examine the contents 

 of some samples of young gadoids, which come from the Irish and English sections of the 

 international investigations and have been kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. E. W. L. 

 Holt and Dr. E. J. Allen; the results have also been included in this work. 



The cruises of the "Thor" in the years 1903—06 have extended over very different 

 waters, namely, the North Sea and the Skager Kak, Iceland and the Fœroes, the Atlantic 

 west and south of the British Isles, the Channel and the Bay of Biscay. The results from 

 the first two regions (North Sea and Skager Eak) will however not be completely dealt 

 with in this paper, which in the main will be restricted to the true Atlantic, but tables 

 over the young fish taken by the "Thor" in the North Sea and Skager Kak have been 

 sent after the determination of the material to the Convener of Committee A, Dr. Johan 

 Hjort, under whose direction the results are included in Dr. D. Damas' work on the biology 

 of the Gadidce in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea (included in the present Eeport from 

 Committee A). 



Briefly put, the region dealt with in this report extends from North Iceland to the 

 north coast of Spain, including therewith not only the coastal waters but also the deeper 



