[en] It is stated that counts of galaxies could be seriously biased by selection effects, largely influenced by the brightness of the night sky. To illustrate this suppose the Earth were situated near the center of a giant elliptical galaxy. The mean surface brightness of the sky would then appear some 8 to 9 mag. brighter than is observed from our position in the Galaxy. Extragalactic space would then appear to be empty void; spiral and irregular galaxies would be invisible, and all that could be easily detected would be the core regions of galaxy ellipticals very similar to our own. Much of the Universe would be blinded by the surface brightness of the parent galaxy. This blinding, however, is a relative matter and the question arises as to what extent we are blinded by the spiral galaxy in which we exist. Strong indirect evidence exists that our knowledge of galaxies is heavily biased by the sky background, and the true population of extragalactic space may be very different from that seen. Other relevant work is also discussed, and further investigational work is indicated. (U.K.)