Ichthyologiske notiser I. 67 
superficial layers. Bearing further in mind how in recent years 
many of the presumed bottom-organisms of the oceans have pro- 
ved to be in reality of bathypelagic habits, the designation of the 
coldwater forms of the Norwegian Sea as true bottom inhabitants 
is not entirely beyond doubt. Paraliparis bathybii and Rho- 
dichthys regina among the fishes may well be suspected of being 
in reality bathypelagic forms, having the soft skin and body in 
common with the fishes known from the intermediate layers of 
the oceans, in opposition both to pelagic and to bottom fishes. 
P. bathybii has twice been taken pelagic in the Norwegian Sea 
and of Rhodichthys two specimens have been captured under 
circumstances pointing to their having been taken from inter- 
mediate water layers. On the other hand rich catches of P. 
bathybii by means of trawl are known to have been made and 
this is difficult to understand if the species is of bathypelagic 
habits. (V. page 71 & 74). 
Our knowledge of the propagation of the cold-water fishes 
of the Norwegian Sea is utterly poor. Generally it may be said 
that the ovaries contain relatively few but large eggs. Free eggs 
and larval stages are not known. By P. bathybii and R. regina 
the large eggs are surrounded by many small ones, which appa- 
rently do not develop any further. The same appearance I have 
found in the ripe ovaries of Triglops pingelii and of several 
pelagic fishes of the open sea belonging to the light-producing 
species. This feature, the reduction in number and the subsequent 
increase in size of the eggs, I think, should be looked upon as 
a secondary adaptation coordinate with special arrangements 
securing a high percentage oi fertilized eggs. In the Myctophidae 
and Sternopthychidae and other pelagic families which are cha- 
racterized by light-producing organs arranged in specific patterns, 
: I think these organs play a role at the spawning-time in guiding 
the species and (or) the sexes’). 
How is then the fertilization of the eggs secured by the 
said Arctic species? As I have shown (p. 74) both Paraliparis 
and Rhodichthys belong to the fam. Cyclopteridae. By this family 
1). In a forthcoming paper on the fishes of the “Armauer Hansen” 
expedition in the North Atlantic 1913 these questions are dealt with in more 
detailed manner. A preliminary account hereof (in Norwegian) appeared in 
1916. (See list of literature). 
