ON A PECULIAR CHARR FROM INVERNESS-SHIRE 79 



a flush of orange red at the origin of the pectoral and ventral 

 fins. There are no pale rounded spots on the body, but on the 

 sides there is a faint appearance of vertical bars of alternating 

 darker and lighter colour. The dorsal and caudal fins are 

 dark and sooty in colour ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins 

 are paler, and have their anterior margins of a yellowish white. 



On opening the abdomen the specimen was found to be 

 a male. 



Among the forms of British Charr described by Gunther 

 as distinct species, but considered by Day to be only varieties 

 of Salmo alpinus? is one to which the present specimen makes 

 so close an approach as to seem to be actually referable 

 thereto. This is the Salmo Killinensis of Gunther 2 from Loch 

 Killin in Inverness-shire. I have not seen a specimen from 

 that lake, but the present specimen agrees very closely with 

 Dr. Giinther's description and figure in general form, and in 

 the proportional measurements of the body and fins, Salmo 

 Killinensis being also remarkable for the large size of the last 

 named appendages. The general coloration is also tolerably 

 similar, but with one marked difference: Dr. Giinther's fish is 

 described and figured as having a number of pale spots on 

 the sides, which in the fish now before me are entirely absent. 



Without discussing the question as to whether Salmo 

 Killinensis is entitled to be considered as a " good " species, 

 or merely as a variety of that apparently very variable 

 form 6". alpinus, we cannot go wrong in referring to it the 

 specimen which has formed the subject of this communica- 

 tion ; and the absence in it of pale spots on the sides may be 

 looked upon as only a still further instance of the variability 

 to which these fishes are subject. It is surely, however, very 

 unusual to find a Charr in the tidal water of a river such as 

 the Ness, and I must own that I am not acquainted with 

 any similar case. 3 



1 Day, "British Fishes," vol. ii. pp. 112-114. 



2 "Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.," 1865, pp. 693-699, pi. xi. "Cat. Fishes, 

 British Museum," vol. vi. p. 130. 



3 Since the above lines have been in type, Mr. Harvie-Brown has sent me a 

 further communication on the subject, which he has received from Mr. Watson, 

 and from which I extract the following : " Loch Killin is ten miles from Foyers, 

 and is connected with Loch Ness by the Foyers river. Is it possible that the 

 fish reached Loch [Ness over the falls ? During the past winter, Loch Ness was 

 high, and the Ness was often in flood. I cannot discover that Charr have ever 

 been seen or caught in the Ness before." 



