106 
shore by boats, and the flesh of which is divided after old 
northern laws still in use in thiscountry. Some hundreds 
of this whale had just been killed in Westmannshavn 
(west side of Strémé) some days before we arrived, and I 
still could examine pieces of the animals brought to Tors- 
havn. I immediately looked after external parasites, but 
would not have got them if Sysselmand Miller, the well- 
known magistrate and naturalist of Torshavn, had 
not had the kindness to give me some specimens, 
These are two species of Cirripedia, one of them 
being an O/‘on, which often attaches itself to the 
teeth of the dolphin, where it easily finds food; 
as the surface water, coming in, is full of little crea- 
tures (infusoria, crustacea, &c.), which the Otion catches 
by aid of its arms, Another very interesting exter- 
' naj parasite of the dolphin is the Xenodalqnuus glo- 
bicifitis Steenstr., which Sysselmand Miiller has dis- 
covered in large numbers on the fins of the whale. An 
allied species, also described by Steenstrup, is found on 
the fins of Uranodon rostratus, a whale met with in small 
flocks of four and five, especially near the southern island, 
where one of them was killed during the stay of the expe- 
dition. In ‘Torshavn I also sought to get the intestines of 
the grindehval ; but these, of course, had already been 
thrown into the sea, with the exception of the stomach, 
in which I have found the rests of Cephalopods, the usual 
food of this whale, and the common Ascaris. 
At the time when we arrived in Faroe the celebrated 
“ Fuglebjergs” (bird-rocks) were unfortunately already 
deserted by their inhabitants, so that I have seen nothing 
of their extraordinary life. Of one of them Sysselmand 
Miiller has taken up excellent photographic views (Troll- 
hovedet, near Sand6), which give a very good idea of 
them, and deserved to be published in an ornithological 
work, We see in it clearly the different stages which the 
birds occupy in the rocks, the highest of them being the 
sea-parrot (Wormon fratercula), then a Larus, and under- 
most Uria, Only the little Zhalassidroma pelagica was 
said to be still breeding (September), and I therefore 
resolved to see the nests, In the rocks of the north- 
eastern side of Naalsé these little birds breed in a depth 
of one or two feet, their nest being simply a hole in the 
earth. One of the natives lifted the stones for me, then 
bent his ears to the holes, and, when he heard the birds 
piping, broke them up. In this manner we took an egg 
containing an embryo, with the old bird, which did not 
even endeavour to run or fly away, and three younger 
ones in different stages of growth. The Thalassidrome 
have only one egg, but they seem to breed twice or thrice 
ayear. In the neighbourhood of this place, they told me, 
the nests of Pvrocellaria glacialis were also to be 
found. Besides these, the birds usually met with were 
Authus campestris, Saxicola e@nanthe, Motacilla alba, 
Troglodytes parvulus, Tringa variabilis and islandica, 
Numenius pheopus, and Hematopus ostralegus, Carbo, 
Sterna, Larus, &c. Wealso got some living specimens 
of Sz/a alba, only occurring in the island of Myggenaes, 
and of Lestyis cataractes, now not very common in Faroe, 
tor the Zoological Garden in Copenhagen. Occasionally 
they have also taken the Pastor roseus and once Syr- 
vhaptes paradoxus, The former bird is known to appear 
sometimes in Norway and Heligoland (nearly every 
summer)—a very remarkable fact, as these birds, which 
are known to breed in Southern Russia and Asia Minor, 
have so very seldom been met with in Denmark or in the 
interior of Germany. 
Fishes are caught abundantly on the shores of Faroe ; 
so that, for example, the klippfish trade is very con- 
siderable. The Gadus are opened, spread out and dried 
on the rocks (klipps), and are exported to Spain and 
France, their swim-bladders being used for the fabrication 
of gelatine, and their ovaries being prepared for the use of 
the anchovy fishers in the Mediterranean. Of remarkable 
fishes only the Lamfris guttatus Briinu was taken during 
NATURE 
ot i) Bi = 2 wees ‘ ms ,. iy r a) me 4 oy ee 2 
my stay in Faroe, inhabiting the great depths of the 
Atlantic, and coming only by accident to the shores of 
these islands. This was the third specimen taken there, 
an enormous creature, weighing 76 Danish pounds, having ~ 
a length of 99 centimetres, and a breadth of 52. The 
colour was a magnificent silver blue with red spots; it 
had been taken by the fishers in the King’s Harbour 
(Kongshavn), and was admired, when brought to Tors- 
hayn, by large crowds of people who had never seen it. 
Before dissecting it, Sysselmand Miiller took a photograph, 
Lampris guttatus 
which has been reproduced in the accompanying woodcut. 
We then separated ‘the principal muscles from the bones 
(the flesh looked like salmon’s, but its taste was not 
quite so good), in order to get the skeleton, and I dissected 
the intestines. Inthe stomach I found the same remains 
of Cephalopods, which also Kréyer mentions (in “ Dan- 
marks Fiske”) in the specimens he examined. Of the 
internal parasites I may here only mention an agamic 
Ascaris in the outer walls of the stomach, and a cestoid in 
the zutestinum tenue. External parasites were eagerly 
sought for, but not found. : 
Very interesting to me were the lakes in the interior of 
the islands, as I hoped to get there something like those — 
animals (“relicts”) found in the lakes of Sweden and 
North America. I accordingly dredged in one of them, — 
but did not find anything of importance. I also examined ~ 
the three species of Salmonidz of these lakes, one of them 
being the Sa/mo salvelinus, known to to be found in the 
lakes of Upper Bavaria and of Scotland. More about these 
inhabitants of the Faroe lakes may shortly be seen from 
a paper which I am to publish in v. Siebold and KGlliker’s 
Zeitschrift ; and the same periodical will also contain the 
results of my investigations on the Annelids from the 
shores of Faroe, which formed the principal object of my 
researches, - I may here only remark that, on the whole 
the invertebrate fauna of the shores of Faroe, as well as 
of Iceland, is very poor compared with that of Greenland, 
Norway, or Denmark; so that the place is not to be 
recommended to those who wish to get in an easy manner 
favourable objects for anatomical or embryological obser- 
vations. When I was there the currents were sometimes 
so strong that, even with the heavy oyster-dredges of 
Jutland, we did not reach farther down than 15 or 20 
fathoms. And as to the surface-fauna, it was, with the 
exception of some few days, quite impossible to do any- 
thing, as the sea was too much agitated. In midsummer, of 
course, all those obstacles will vanish. Nevertheless, I 
could every day get fresh materials, as when the sea was 
rough I was sitting on the rocks of the shore, and select- 
ing the animals from the sand and sea-weeds brought up 
in the harbour of Torshavn by my fisher, Zacharias 
Hansen, a very brave man, whdm I recommend to every 
naturalist coming to Faroe in the future. With respect to 
comfort, my stay in the island was very agreeable, thanks 
to the care which Mr. and Mrs. Hansen were always 
good enough to take of me. 
RUD. V. WILLEMOES-SUHM 
