— 87 — JOHS. SCHMIJ)T 



3. British Isles' 



Our stations beyond the 1000-meter line to the west of Scotland (i.e. south of 

 G0° N. L.) were investigated at the end of May and in the beginning of June, and show 

 that the quantity of the postlarval fry of the Poutassou increase greatly as we follow the 

 lOOO-meter line from Iceland and the Faeroes towards the south. Thus in our hauls 

 between 60° N. and 58° N. we took no less than 167, 147, 76 and 67 specimens per half hour, 

 thus very large numbers, which show what enormous masses of the young must be pro- 

 duced out over great depths to the N. W. and W. of Scotland. Whilst most of our spec- 

 imens N. W. of Scotland were small under 1 cm., those taken W. of Scotland were always 

 considerably larger, the majority about 2 cm. (at the end of May). 



On the west and south-west of Ireland we also found the pelagic fry of Gadus 

 Foufassou, in May and June (1905 and 1906) but not in August and September, as can 

 be seen from the Chart of distribution. The numbers were however much smaller than 

 further to the north , W. of Scotland ; but I do not conclude from this that the fry are 

 rare here, as almost all our hauls were made too deep down in the water to give us the 

 fry of this species (see tables for 1905 and 1906). 



4. North Sea (and Skager Rak) 

 In spite of our extremely numerous stations almost everywhere in the North Sea, in April 

 May, July, August and September, not a single specimen of Gadus Poutassou fry has been 

 taken there, nor in the Skager Eak. From what has been said under §2, the general 

 features of the occurrence, this will be readily understood, as both the depths and the 

 temperature and salinity in spring at the spawning time are too low in the North Sea to 

 permit of this species reproducing. In the northern parts of the North Sea and in the 

 Skager Kak shoals of full-grown or adolescent specimens of this species may occur, and 

 according to Collett (Norges Flske, 1875, p. Ill) this widely distributed fish is also found 

 along the Norwegian coast right up to the Polar Circle. 



5. The Channel 

 The fry of Gadus Poutassou have nowhere been met with in the Channel, and they are 

 also quite wanting in the samples I have examined from the Plymouth Laboratory. This 

 result was indeed to be expected considering the relatively shght depths in the Channel. 



6. Bay of Biscay 

 Our hauls here in the beginning of May 1906 show that the fry of Gadus Poutassou 

 occur both in the most northerly as well as the most southerly parts of the Bay , some- 

 times in very large numbers. Whilst the smaller fry (under ca. 3 cm.) occur as usual 

 beyond or but few miles within the 1000-meter line, which on the north coast of Spain 

 where some of our stations lay is indeed but ca. 20 miles away from the coast, the older 

 fry were found at a somewhat greater distance, namely at ca. 30 miles from the 1000- 

 meter line. Thus, for example, at St. 35 in 1906 in a haul of half an hour in ca. 30 

 meters under the surface, we took 104 specimens varying in length from 55 to 81 mm., 

 as can be seen from the accompanying table. 



' In the available literature there is, so far as I Icnow, no mention of the reproduction of this species. 



