— 225 - Jons. SCHMIDT 



13. Ling (Molva itiolou). 



At the stations N. of Scotland the eggs but as yet no fry of the ling were found. 

 On the other hand largo (juantities of pelagic fry wore obtained W. of Scotland as well 

 as on Hockall Hank, e. g. 15!), 120, and y? specimens per '/a hour, proving that large 

 quantities of the fry of this species are produced in these waters. On the westerly part 

 of tlie south coast of Iceland the fry were also obtained in large quantities, e. g. 207 

 specimens per '/-j hour at St. 48 on the 5th of July. 



14. Blue ling {Molva byrkelange). 



No new information as regards the occurrence of this species was obtained through 

 the present investigations. At the stations lying in shallowest water on Rockalj Bank we 

 found no fry, whereas they occurred at the peripheral stations though not in very large 

 quantities. From Chart VII it is seen that fry were taken at all the stations on the way 

 from Hockall to Iceland, so that also this year the fish proved to be, of the gadoids 

 (j¥. byrkelange, Gadiis Foutassou, Gadiculus) spawning in deep water, the one which 

 propagates furthest to the north. 



15. Mediterranean ling [Molva elongata). 



As might have been foreseen, the fry of this southerly species were not found in 

 our hauls. 



16. Lesser Forkbeard (Raniceps raninus). 



From what has been stated in the present work as to the late spawning-season of 

 this species (see p. 109) it is not to be wondered at that no fry appeared in our hauls. 



17. Torsk [Brosmius brosme). 



Much valuable information as regards the occurrence of the torsk was obtained during 

 the last expedition. Thus it was found that nowhere inside the whole territory investigated 

 by us were the fry of this fish obtained in such quantities as near Scotland and especially 

 on and round Rockall Bank, where we got 211, 121, and 106 specimens per Va hour. 

 Nearly all the pelagic fry were quite young, and the presence of large quantities of eggs 

 at all the stations inside the 200 m. curve proved an abundant spawning to be still going 

 on. I may mention here that the numerous samples of pelagic eggs collected on Kockall 

 Bank were hatched and subjected to exact investigation by me. I came to the result that 

 the eggs of the haddock and torsk were to be found everywhere in very large quantities, 

 while cod eggs were not so richly represented owing to the earlier spawning-season of 

 this fish. There was besides a number of small eggs which when hatched produced a 

 small G^ac^Ms-larva. I consider them to be Gadus mmutiis which in another way was 

 determined as propagating here. They had yellow pigment, strongest on the foremost 

 part of the head and on the yolk-sac and the embryonic fin, on the two latter only yellow 

 pigment. On the trunk below and above there were also small black stellate chromato- 

 phores which did not reach to the end of the tail. In the eyes a number of black pig- 

 ment-dots were seen. 



I cannot conclude this report on our investigations of the Eockall gadoids without 

 mentioning the general character of the pelagic fauna found on this Bank, especially at 

 St. 18 which lies 1 mile from the small rock visible above the water's edge at a depth of 

 105 m. and was investigated in very calm weather. I was particularly astonished to find 

 out there in the ocean a typical coast-planktou containing the same species of jelly-fishes 



29 



