66 



BOREAL PROVINCE. 



make voyages to the north to eat tusk. The ling 

 {Lota molva) and it are both dwellers in the deep 

 sea, usually far from land, and the pursuit of these 

 fishes employs thousands of fishermen, whose adven- 

 tures are most perilous, and whose lives often fall 

 sacrifices to their scantily-rewarded toil. The true 

 cod, the hake, and the coal-fish frequent most the 

 region between fifty and fifteen fathoms, the cod 

 preferring the lower part of this region, the hake 

 the upper. In shallower depths, and to the verge 

 of the shore, the pollack prevails, and takes the 

 place of its congeners. Mingled with these, on the 

 Norwegian shores, is the green cod, or sei, the 

 Pollachius virens, which, however, is more charac- 

 teristic of the southernmost portion of the Arctic 

 province, where it furnishes abundant employ to 

 the fishermen of Finmark and Nordland. In this 

 nursery of Boreal fishes, we must not forget that 

 the herring and the halibut have their share in 

 these northern seas. 



To the clergyman of a remote country parish, 

 in the wildest part of Norway, we are indebted 

 for our knowledge of the more remarkable marine 

 animals of the Bergenstift, or district of which the 

 prettily- situated and flourishing town of Bergen is 

 the capital. More complete or more valuable 

 zoological researches than those of Sars, have rarely 

 been contributed to the science of Natural History, 

 and the success with which he has prosecuted in- 

 vestigations claiming not only a high systematic 



