that period; and whereas there were as recently as 1909 only 56 canneries in the country, employ- ing 3600 workers, the number is now close upon 200 factories with about 5500 hands. The centre of this industry is Stavanger — the fourth largest town in the country, and it is to the canning trade that it owes its world-wide reputation. Here De Norske Hermetikfabrikers Landsforening (The National Association of Norwegian Canners) has its offices, and here are also the research laboratories of the canning industry which were established in 1931, and whose object is to ensure by scientific research and tests a product of high quality and a rational development of the industry. The laboratories have three sections: Chemical, bacteorological, and machinery and packing. The principal products of the Norwegian fish- packing trade are, as already pointed out, sardines. Norwegian sardines are smoked brisling and smaa- sild packed in olive oil and tomato. Considerable quantities of smaasild are packed also unsmoked in the same way as French sardines. Brisling and smaasild are found in vast shoals in Norwegian fjords, where they are caught in nets — mostly in the summer months. Zoologically, they belong to the Clupea family, and are mainly marketed under the name of «Norwegian Sardines» or correspond- ing designations. Norwegian sardines have met with the greatest favour in those countries which are the most exacting in respect of high quality 104