sary, every now and then, to go beyond these facts, or rather with these facts as a basis, to form a distinct idea regarding the causes of the many different phenomena and their mutual connection. This can only be done by forming some theory, and I therefore consider this as neces sary if the investigations shall be carried on after a definite plan and in a rational manner.

If, in conclusion, some one should ask me what I think as to the results of the fisheries in coming years; in other words, in how far the spring-herring fisheries will in the future be a success or a failure, as has been the case during the last few years, I must first of all solemnly declare that I never thought I was a prophet, nor intended to pass myself off for a prophet. I consider it necessary to say this, as I learned to my sorrow that many people in reading my former report entirely misunderstood me, as if I had promised that in the following year there would be rich spring-herring fisheries. No such thought entered my mind, especially as there are many unforeseen circumstances which dur ing the fishing season itself may exercise a hurtful influence on the fisheries, even if the mass of herrings should be ever so large. Some of my utterances regarding the spring-herring fisheries may not have been couched in as cautious or conditional language as they should have been, considering how many people are interested in or dependent on these fisheries. The reason of this must be found in the fact that my investigations in the southern herring district revealed a condition of affairs entirely different from what I had expected. I had gone there with the preconceived notion that we were near the end of a "herring period," or near the end of the entire spring-herring fisheries; and I consequently expected to find some signs of this, which I thought must show themselves at this season of the year. To my greatest astonishment, I found no such signs whatever; the young fish were, as always, in their usual places in large numbers, and all accounts agreed that also this year enormous masses of herrings had approached the coast, although they had not come as near as in former years. This, in connection with the fact, proved by my observation of the summer-herring, that this herring was the same as the spring-herring, only at a different age, of course convinced me that there was no decrease in that tribe of herrings which according to the popular notion lived in the deep immediately outside the coast.

As with these facts before me I could not think of any other prob able cause why the spring-herring fisheries should come to an end but a decrease or degeneration of the respective tribe of spring-herrings occasioned by some unknown causes, and as I in my capacity as a naturalist could not possibly rest satisfied with the explanation that the spring-herring fisheries would come to an end, because this bad been the case many years ago under circumstances which showed some similarity with what had been seen or what people believed they saw during the last few years, I could not possibly entertain the idea that

there were any distinct signs indicating a speedy end of the springherring fisheries. I consequently expressed my views perhaps with too great freedom, saying that I had found nothing which would prevent the spring-herring fisheries from being successful in the future in their usual places; and I would direct attention to the fact that this is very different from making a distinct promise that next year there would be rich spring-herring fisheries. My views are the same now as then, viz, that for the present there is no reasonable cause whatever to suppose that the spring-herring fisheries on our western coast will come to an end, although their yield may, through many accidental causes, vary from year to year, just as has been the case in former times.

VI.-REPORTS MADE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OF INVESTIGATIONS OF THE SALT-WATER FISHERIES OF NORWAY DURING THE YEARS 1874-1877.*

By Prof. G. O. SARS.

I.

REPORT FOR 1874.

As there is an item in the appropriation bill for next year for the practical and scientific investigations of the fisheries, I shall give a brief report of the observations made by me this year, and I shall also give my opinion as to how they should be continued.

As I mentioned in a former report to the department, it was my original intention this year to investigate the fisheries in Finmarken. It was my opinion that these investigations should be made chiefly in the months of March, April, and May; but as Professor Rasch had sent in his resignation in the beginning of the year I had to abandon this plan, since my office as assistant professor of zoology obliged me as long as the professorship was vacant to attend to its duties, lectures, and examinations, which could not be taken by any one else. I had thus no time at my command before the beginning of the midsummer vacation, i. e., the end of June. But as already the year before reports had been made to the department by the governor of Finmarken by fishermen and several gentlemen interested in the fisheries, all expressing the fear that the whale fisheries, which during the last years had been carried on in the Varanger fiord by S. Foyn, might exercise a hurtful influence on the other fisheries, and since the department had at the same time been requested to have this matter investigated as soon as possible by a competent scientist, I thought that I must adhere to my original plan and make my investigations this year in Finmarken. It is true that the general fisheries had closed everywhere by the time I could leave my duties at the university, but on the other hand it was the most convenient season for investigating Foyn's whale fisheries, as they are chiefly carried on during the months of July and August. As I moreover expected to make some preliminary observations on the general fisheries, which I considered necessary before the direct investigations could be commenced, I concluded to proceed to Finmarken, even if I should get there at a time when no important fisheries were carried on.

*Indberetninger til Departmentet for det Indre fra Professor Dr. G. O. Sars om de af ham i Aarene 1874-1877 anstillede Undersögelser vedkommende Saltvandsfiskerierne. Christiania, 1878. Translated by Herman Jacobson.

As soon as I had finished my examination work and had gotten the necessary apparatus I started for the North and arrived at Vardö on the 15th of July. After a stay of eight days, which I chiefly spent in gathering information regarding the fisheries which had just come to an end, and in investigating the physical conditions of those localities where the fisheries are principally carried on, I went to Vadsö, where I staid three weeks. Here I had every opportunity to study Foyn's whale fisheries, which just then were in very successful operation. Nearly every day I could examine whales which had been caught by him, and several times I had a chance of witnessing the way in which these fisheries are carried on.

The result at which I arrived regarding the influence which the whale fisheries may have on the other fisheries coincides exactly with my opin ion which I had formerly expressed to the department. It is my firm conviction, now as then, that no danger whatsoever need be apprehended from the whale fisheries. I have in a former report to the department given my reasons for this view, and now, after having personally examined the matter, I can add a fact which proves still more fully that the complaints made against Foyn's fisheries are entirely unfounded. The kind of whale which Foyn catches almost exclusively, the so-called blue whale (Balanoptera Sibbaldii), has in all probability nothing whatever to do with the other fish. Repeated investigations of the contents of its stomach have convinced me that its food consists almost exclusively of a small transparent shrimp (Thysanopoda inermis), which by the inhabitants of this coast is called "kril." Although there was no lack of herrings of different sizes during the time I staid in the Varanger fiord, I never found the slightest trace of herrings in the stomach of the blue whales, and Foyn himself has assured me that he never had found any herring in the whale. The whale which is mostly found here is of a much smaller kind (probably Balanoptera laticeps), a whale which Foyn does not care for at all, because it is neither as large nor as fat as the blue whale. Besides this whale two other kinds of whale come here during the herring fisheries (so I have at least been informed), viz, the Balanoptera musculus and the Megaptera boops, but both of them in smaller numbers. All these three kinds of whales seem to leave the coast when the herring fisheries have come to an end and follow the herring to the ocean; while the blue whale only begins to approach the coast in any considerable number after the herring fisheries, in order to feed on the enormous masses of "kril," which at this time are by the current driven toward the coast, especially in the Varanger fiord. Even those who still hold to the old opinion, that the whales chase the herrings toward the coast, will thus have no reasonable cause for anxiety, as Foyn does not catch the so-called herring-whale, but chiefly a different kind which comes near the coast at a later season of the year.

Besides these investigations (concerning Foyn's whale fisheries) I