— 120 - 



part of the west coast as far almost as Brede Bay in the north (ca.65°N.L.) are re- 

 markable for the high temperatures observed, namely, over 5° (ca. 5° to about 7°). 

 The coldest coasts it will be noticed are the east and eastern part of the north 

 coast, where the temperatures are not above 2° (as a rule but little over 1°), whereas 

 the northern part of the west coast and the western part of the north coast 

 take up an intermediate position with temperatures of 2° — 3°. By reason of the 

 above-described division of warm and cold water we have on the coasts of Iceland two 

 boundaries between warm and cold water, the one lying off the easternmost part of the south 

 coast and extremely well-marked (see fig. 5, where the great difference in the temp- 

 eratures at two spots close to one another is apparent, and fig. 4, p. 117), and this applies 



Pig. 6. Observations of temperature during the second voyage of the "Thor" round Iceland in May 

 —June 1904 (cf. Chart IX). See also explanation to fig. 5. 



not only to April but also to the remaining months of the year; the other hydrographical 

 boundary lying off the north-western part of the coast is not nearly so well-marked, as 

 can be seen from the figures. This condition is of great importance for the distribution 

 of the pelagic young of the fishes. These are carried from the warm region on the south 

 and south-west coasts northwards along the west coast and eastwards along the north 

 coast, whilst on account of the sharp hydrographical boundary at the south-east corner 

 none of the pelagic fry are carried directly from the south coast to the east coast. 



Fig. 6 shows the surface and bottom temperatures in 1904 one to two months later 

 than fig. 5, thus in May and June. We see that the water off the north-west part of the 

 coast is now considerably warmer. On the other hand, the temperature on the east coast 

 and eastern part of the north coast is still low and we again find a sharply marked 



