— 86 — 



unders0g(3lser), whilst like the fry of G. Fontassou they are quite wanting in the shallow 

 coastal waters. 



Even if the numbers taken of the latter species cannot be compared with those of 

 Sebastes (and the reason is simple, namely, that we were there right in the centre of the 

 occurrence of the fry of Sebastes, whilst we were near the northern limit for the oc- 

 currence of the G. Poutassouîry), it will be seen from the Chart and the tables that the 

 numbers are by no means so small. Thus between 61° and 62° N.L. we several times 

 took 18 specimens per half hour, and this number is not small when we consider the 

 immense area over which the fry are distributed. We come here to an interesting fact 

 which deserves to be emphasized. It has been said that the pelagic fry of all the 

 other gadoid species are chiefly found only within the 200- meters line, whereas those of 

 the G. Poutassou occur beyond the 1000-meter line. A glance at the Chart over the waters 

 to the south of Iceland (and west of the Fœroes) will at once show that the areas 

 with depths less than 200 meters are very much less in extent than those 

 between 1000 meters and the greatest depths over which the fry of the 

 Poutassou have been taken. And in agreement with this we also find that the area 

 over which the fry of this species were taken is very much larger than 

 that over which the pelagic fry of the other gadoids (cod, coalfish, 

 whiting, Gadus Esmarki) occurred to the south of Iceland. 



2. The Faeroes 



As the young fry of G. Poutassou do not occur in the neighbourhood of the coasts 

 or on coastal banks, but only beyond the 1000-meter line, it is in reality quite wrong to 

 speak of the "occurrence at the Fœroes". And there can naturally be no separation be- 

 tween the stock occurring to the south of Iceland and west of the Faeroes, as they pass 

 over evenly into one another (see Chart TV). The specimens found to the west of 

 the Pseroes in May were for the most part small (see St. 100, 1904 ; St. 60 and 61, 1905) 

 and were all taken over greater depths than 1000 meters. The greatest number found 

 was 34 per half hour, thus greater than to the south of Iceland (i. e. than further to the 

 west). It was only to the west of the Fœroes and the Fœroe Bank that the fry were found, 

 not to the north, east or south, which is readily understood from the low temperatures or 

 the slight depths at these places. Later in the year, on the other hand, late in July and 

 early in August, we took a few larger specimens (5^2 and 8 cm. long) to the north of 

 the Fœroes, both in shallow water (St. 128, 1905) and at greater depths (1090 meters, 

 St. 230, 1904), as can be seen from Chart IV. 



These discoveries only show however that the older fry can be carried from the places 

 where they were spawned in the warm, salt Atlantic water beyond the 1000-meter line in 

 a north-easterly direction both in over less depths or over greater, i. e. they may pass 

 over the submarine ridge into the Norwegian Sea where the' hydrographical conditions 

 are so extremely different from those under which the species reproduces in the Atlantic. 

 There is no doubt however that considerable quantities of Gadus Poutassou are carried 

 into the Norwegian Sea over the submarine ridge between the Fœroes and Iceland as well 

 as through the Fœroe Shetland Channel. 



