42 | acy Sigurd Johnsen. 
the Mediterranean (in: decreasing numbers from west to east) 
and at two stations' in the Bay of Cadiz. The distribution of 
St. ferox coincides remarkably well with that of the Gulf Stream; — 
the places where found are situated in the western Atlantic from 
abt. 35° N., in the eastern Atlantic from abt. 45° N. (Bay of 
Biscay) and northwards to Iceland. In the western Atlantic to 
the south of abt. 30" N. St. brevibarbatus, a species described 
as new by Ege, replaces St. ferox. From the corresponding 
parts of the eastern Atlantic specimens of Stomias have been 
recorded several times. Ege classifies his only specimen from 
the waters of Madeira with St. ferox. Acc. to Hjort (1912) 
“Stomias boa” was found at nearly all oceanic stations of the 
“M. Sars”. The specimens of the northern section (91 out of 
151 specimens) may probably’ all be referred to St. ferox, but 
those of the southern section must be subject to a closer in- 
vestigation, in order to decide whether they belong to St. boa, 
St. ferox or perhaps also to a related third form of a southern 
range. “St. boa” is namely recorded by Brauer (1908) from 
off the coast of South Africa and by Peters from New Zealand 
waters.') Whether St. ferox is a North Atlantic form or ranging 
throughout the Atlantic, St. boa must be regarded as a descen- 
dent from it; St. ferox has entered the Mediterranean once when 
the conditions there were more like those of the Atlantic and 
during the following hydrographical changes it has developed 
into a new form, St. bou, which may be characterized as a 
reduced St. ferox, with regard to number of vertebre and photo- 
phores. The relation between the two forms is the same as 
between Myetophum glaciale and M. glaciale var. thori. To in- 
1) In contrast to M. glaciale St. ferox has not been recorded from the 
Norwegian Sea. As specimens are known from the waters of South Iceland 
and West Greenland, where the Gulf Stream influence is less prominent than 
in the Norwegian Sea, the absence of St. ferox in the latter sea may be due 
to its living at greater depths than M. glaciale, — the Wyville Thomson 
ridge acting as a barrier to its progress in this direction. From the fig. 478 
in Hjort (1912) it is evident that most of the day-catches of the “M. Sars” 
were with 500 m. wire out whilst, at night, specimens were also caught in 
the surfacewaters. Ege has also come to the conclusion that the species 
undertakes vertical day-and-night migrations. If St. ferox really is a more 
bathypelagic form than M. glaciale this will also accourt for its occurrence 
in the waters to the south of the Gulf Stream in the eastern Atlantic. 
