LOFODEN NORWEGIAN COD-LIVER OIL. 
317 
number that would appear to imperil the duration and very existence of the 
species. But the fecundity of this fish is so great that 9,000,000 of eggs have 
been found in the roe of one female. Hence, six female cod would under 
favourable circumstances, supply to the whole human family, annually, their 
present demand for this important article of food. Cod-fish would soon fill the 
northern seas and become as multitudinous as the sand beneath them, if other 
and more effective agencies than those of man were not constantly at work to 
keep their numbers in subjection. 
The information now incidentally given relating to the propagation of the 
cod, the deposit of its ova, and the security of the young fry is, though limited, 
an important addition to our knowledge of the natural habits of this fish; 
should further observation confirm the opinion held by practical men on the 
spot, then it will appear that Lofoden is the natural nursery for these immense 
shoals of cod that swarm the northern seas. Of course, cod ova may be depo¬ 
sited and hatched on many coasts, our own included, but nowhere on the same 
scale and with the same great results as at Lofoden. Collateral evidence in 
support of this view is furnished from Finmark, where, after the Lofoden season 
is over, cod-fish and the Gadus virens are found associating together in equal 
numbers. Now, the Gadus vireiis is the young of the Gadus carbonarius , these 
being two names given to the same fish at different periods of growth ; young 
cod presenting no marked characteristics whereby they essentially differ from 
the mature fish, have not a separate name; but the fact of these two species, 
the Gadus morrhua and Gadus virens , being found together in large shoals, and 
one of them young, renders it probable that the other is young also. Again, 
we know that the proper season of the year for the cod to spawn is the month 
of February ; and this supports the view taken, that the chief object of the cod 
in visiting the Lofoden Islands in January is for the purpose of depositing their 
ova. 
These things being so, we may advance to another proposition. Immense 
shoals of cod arriving from the deep sea make their annual appearance on the 
Norwegian coasts early in January, and continue there to the end of April, 
when the last of them return. We are already in possession of the fact that 
at Newfoundland the shoals of cod arrive at the end of June and retire in 
October. By a comparison of these dates, it is apparent that their arrival first 
on one coast, then on the other, and their departure first from one coast, then 
from the other, are separated by exact intervals of six months. In both cases, 
they come from and return to the deep sea, that is, the Atlantic Ocean. At 
Lofoden they arrive, as now alleged, for the purpose of spawning; at New¬ 
foundland, certainly as fish of prey. At Lofoden, all other kinds of fish fly 
before them and are suffered to escape; at Newfoundland, they follow in fierce 
pursuit shoals of capelin, cuttlefish, and herrings. At Lofoden, they arrive in 
their finest and best condition, leaving thin.and emaciated; at Newfoundland, 
they arrive hungry and ravenous, devouring their prey with the greatest vora¬ 
city, till at last they become gorged and no longer able to feed; in this state, 
previous to their departure, they can be seen through the clear water to refuse 
their favourite food held before them as bait. From the Great Bank of New¬ 
foundland to Lofoden flows that powerful equalizer of temperatures, that warm 
river in the sea, the great Gulf Stream. In its course, and about midway be¬ 
tween Lofoden and Newfoundland, is the island of Iceland ; cod leaving Lofoden 
in March to arrive at Newfoundland in June or July, might be expected be¬ 
tween these dates to appear on the fishing-grounds of this island ; they actually 
do so, the chief cod-fishery in Iceland occurring in the spring and summer. 
Finally, cod approach Lofoden from the south-west; Newfoundland is due 
south-west of Lofoden. 
Weighing these facts, a very interesting and important inquiry presents 
