- 90 - 



from the results at St. 164, 1905, Aug. 29th, W. of the Faeroes, where we took 6 spec- 

 imens less than 1 cm. in length, as these small stages could not have been in any case 

 more than 2 months old. 



Almost all the stations where we have taken the pelagic fry of Gadiculus show with 

 great clearness, that these are most numerous in the intermediate or deeper 

 layers and rarer near the surface. This is seen with special distinctness from 

 St. 71 — 74, 1905. The fry were taken in greatest quantities at a depth of 100 — 200 

 meters under the surface, but even in the very deep hauls (1000 — 1500 meters wire) 

 quantities were often taken, just as on the other hand it also occurs in numbers in hauls 

 nearer the surface, e.g. in ca. 30 meters depth under this (with 65 meters wire out). 



The young bottom stages I have not taken, but through the kindness of Mr. E. W. L. 

 Holt I have been able to examine several. Of these one specimen is 41 mm. in length, 

 taken in 199 fathoms, and described and figured in my monograph on Gadus, Part I, 

 Holt and Calderwood (1. c, 1895, p. 435) mention the discovery of several young specimens 

 of 1 — 3 inches in length (i. e. 25 — 76 mm.) at the bottom. According to our investiga- 

 tions the fry of Gadiculus may still be pelagic even at a length of over 3 cm., and ac- 

 cording to the available data it does not seem to give up the pelagic mode of life until it 

 is 3 — 4 cm. long. 



§ 3. The geographical distribution 



1. Iceland 

 In the waters W., N. and E. of Iceland we have not found the pelagic young of 

 Gadiculus although we were working at the same depths at which they were found else- 

 where in quantities. On account of the southerly distribution of this species (it occurs at 

 the Soudan and in the Mediterranean) I conclude from this that the temperature in the 

 waters W., N. and E. of Iceland are too low for it to live or spawn there. In the waters 

 S. of Iceland (between 61° and 62° N.) we have taken the small fry over depths from 

 1000 to 2000 meters, but in such small numbers however that it can scarcely be common 

 there ^ For the rest, there is no occasion for specially describing the occurrence of the 

 young of Gadiculus in the waters S. of Iceland, as the region there is the same as W. 

 of the Faeroes, where the young are found. 



2. The Faeroes 



It was only to the W. of the Faeroes over greater depths than 1000 meters that we 

 took the small fry of Gadiculus (in May, June and a few in August). The greatest 

 numbers per half hour's haul were 16 and 12, taken at St. 61 W. of the Fseroe Bank on 

 May 28th 1905, depth 963 meters, and all were small (less than 1 cm.). At the end 

 of July 1905 2 specimens were taken over shallower water, 512 meters, at St. 129 

 which lies N. W. of the Faeroes on the subnaarine ridge between these and Iceland, but 

 these specimens were older, ca. 2 cm. long, which explains their occurrence there where 

 the bottom temperature was only 1-71°, as obviously they had been carried in a north- 



• The investigations in the waters S. of Iceland were made in May, June, July and August. That 

 Oadieulus can scarcely on the whole be very common S. of Iceland, seems clear from our trawling ex- 

 periments at depths from ca. 50 to over 2000 meters. 



