— 33 — JOHS. SOHlVftDT 



at stations lying about 5° E.L. and 55°— 56° N.L.), e.g. 549, 281, 280, 157 etc. per half 

 hour's haul. We see from the Chart, that the pelagic young of the cod in contrast to 

 those of the coalfish are found in the southern part of the North Sea, though in distinctly 

 smaller numbers than further north; but I shall not however enter further into a dis- 

 cussion of our investigations in the North Sea, as the results of these will be included by 

 Damas in his account of the conditions in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea. 



5. The Channel 

 At the end of April 1906 the "Thor" had 16 stations on a line from Esbjerg to 

 Plymouth, so that the southern parts ot the North Sea and the English Channel were 

 investigated at a favourable time of year. It was of special interest to notice along this 

 line (for the stations, see Chart I), how the numbers of the pelagic cod young decreased 

 the further we went southwards, i. e. the nearer we approached the Channel. I may note 

 here the largest number of pelagic young cod we obtained per Va hour's haul at the 

 different stations on the way from Esbjerg to the Channel (27. — 30. April). 



North Sea The Channel 



Stat. No. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 etc. 



Tnrilitv 54°.52'N. 54°17'N. 53°.34'N. 52°52'N. 52°14'N. 51°48'N. 51°irN. .51°02'N. 50°43'N. 50°10'N. 

 _ •'^ 7°14'E. 6°16'E. 4°56'B. 3°57'E. 3°05' E. 2°29'E. 1°49'E. 1°21'E. 0°45E. 0°22'W. 



Max. No. of 



pelagic cod 



young per 



Va hour's 



haul 



41 44 31 39 1 1 



We see from this that at the last three stations in the North Sea (20, 21, 22), there 

 were but few or no cod young, and at our 10 stations in the Channel in the last days of 

 April and the first days of June, not a single specimen was found, although these stations 

 were well chosen and gave a large number of pelagic gadoid fry of other species {G. mer- 

 langus, minutus, luscus, poUachiiis). As the period of year was specially favourable for the 

 capture of pelagic cod young, I can only conclude from our investigations in the Channel, 

 that the cod does not spawn or only to a small degree in the Channel, at 

 least in its western part. This view is also supported by some collections made in May 

 1906 in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, which were kindly sent me by Dr. E. J. Allen. In 

 these the cod young were quite lacking, whilst the same species which the "Thor" had 

 taken in the Channel, were present. The List over the occurrence of pelagic fish eggs and 

 young in the Channel, which was published some years ago by Holt and Scott \ points 

 in the same direction, as the only species mentioned are the same as the "Thor" found, 

 viz. Gadus poUachius, minutus, luscus and merlangus, but not a single Gadus callarias. 

 Nor during the cruise of the "Thor" through the Channel in June 1905 did we detect any 

 trace of pelagic young cod. 



We ourselves have not been able to make investigations on the occurrence of the 

 bottom stages in the littoral region of the coasts of the Channel, but through the kind- 

 ness of Dr. E. J. Allen, I have been able to examine the contents of numerous hauls made 

 in spring and summer in shallow water in the neighbourhood of Plymouth with the shrimp 



1 .Journal of the Mar. Biol. Association, Vol. V (N. S.), 1897^99, p. 1.56. 



