— 29 — .lOHS. SCHMIDT 



respectively 16 and liicm. lonn.' In inosl, ol' tlicsc hauls the young coalfish were however 

 in the majority (see under this species, p. 40). 



We may thus summarise the results of our investigations at the Fseroes as follows. 

 The cod spawns in quantities on the Fseroese banks in the period between the end of 

 February and the middle or end of May, at a temperature of ca. 6°— ca. 7-Vi°. In May 

 the young are found pelagically in great numbers, with a length of ca. 1 cm., and in July 

 the bottom stages are already present in quantities in the littoral region, so that possibly 

 they may already be there at the end of June, though this has not been determined. 



The conditions at the Fœroes remind one of those at the south-western part of Ice- 

 land, where the cod spawns almost at the same time and almost at the same temperature, 

 but the phenomena are not quite on such a large scale as at Iceland. 



With regard to the occurrence of the bottom stages there is this difference between 

 the Fseroes and S. W. Iceland, that these stages are much more common at the former 

 place than at the latter, which may perhaps be due to the fact that the Faroes lack the 

 constant current, which at Iceland carries the pelagic stages away from the place where 

 they were hatched in a circulation movement round the island. 



3. British Isles ^ 

 Concerning the spawning of the cod on the Atlantic coasts of Great Britain I have 

 not much personal experience, as our earlier investigations there came too late in the year. 

 I may mention however that cod eggs were found in quantities at the end of May 1908 

 to the north of Scotland (St. 2, 3, 4), as also in no small quantities in the Minch, west of 

 the Hebrides and on the Eockall Bank. Mc Intosh and Masterman (1897, p. 237) state that 

 on the east coast spawning proceeds from the beginning of February to the beginning of May 

 with its maximum in the period from the middle of March to the middle of April, and with 

 this the size of the young found by us in good agreement. On May 7th 1905 at the mouth 

 of the Moray Firth (58°irN., 2°28'W., depth 57 meters), we found several cod eggs in 

 a 5 minutes haul with the tow-net, in water with a temperature of 6-92° at the surface (at 

 the bottom 6-89'') and with salinity of 34-90 "loo from the surface to the bottom. If we 

 study the hydrographical charts of the west coast of Great Britain published by the "Conseil 

 permanent international pour l'exploration de la mer", we find also that the surface temp- 

 eratures at the spawning period of the cod in early spring lie between ca. 7° and ca. 9 — 10°. 



' As examiiles the following stations may be mentioned : 



St. 210 12(8—03 



Vaag Fjord (most southerly of the islands) — 1 haul from 4—0 meters 



Gadus callarias 



cm. 35... Ü7 25 23 21 ' 19 17. . . .7 .5 3 



No. 1....1 2 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 1..1 21 36 10 



St, 244 Ve —03 



Same place as St. 210 — 2 hauls from ca. 12 — meters 



cm. 41 39 37 30 29 27 2.5 23 21 19.. .11 9 7 5 3 



No. 11111145374912 1 6 33 40 33 41 



^ The North Sea coasts of Grreat Britain are not discussed here, but only those washed by the 

 Atlantic. In general however I have included the results from the Stations lying off the mouth of the 

 Moray Firth, amongst other reasons because it is undoubtedly the case that many of the pelagic young 

 fish occurring there come from the N. or W. coasts of Scotland (of. Mariin Knuusbn, Publications de 

 Circonstance, No. 39, 1907). 



