316 Descriptive Notice of the Char^ 



On mentioning the occurrence of this fish to Mr. Yarrell, he, besides 

 communicating the name as above, furnished the following list of references 

 to most of the British authors by whom it has either been described or 

 figured : — 



The sunfish (Mola Salvian?, Orthagoriscus Rondeletw), Willughby's 

 Historia Pischnn^ p. 151. fig. I. 26. The short sunfish (Tetrodon Mola 

 Linn.), Pennant's British Zoologi/, edit. 1812, vol. iii. p. 172. Cephalus 

 brevis of Turton's British Fauna, p. 116. sp. 160. Tetrodon Mola, Dono- 

 van's Natural History of British Fishes, plate 25. Orthagoriscus Mola, 

 Fleming's British Animals, p. 175. sp.32. 



This copious supply of references, so obligingly furnished by Mr. Yarrell, 

 will enable the possessor of any one of these works to farther trace the 

 history of this remarkable fish. — J. D. 



Art. IV. Descriptive Notice o^ the Char {Salmo alpinus L.), and 

 mention of another Species of Fish. By O. 



Sir, 

 The habits of fish are, for the most part, so imperfectly 

 known, that any additional information on their history is 

 acceptable. I, therefore, shall not apologise for troubling you 

 with a few remarks on the char ; the habits of which are, pro- 

 bably, as little understood as any. The char (iSalmo alpinus 

 L.) is found in several of the deep and rocky lakes of Eng- 

 land : viz. Coniston in Lancashire, Windermere in West- 

 moreland, Buttermere and Cromackwater in Cumberland, 

 and, I believe, in Uls water. My observations are confined 

 to Windermere. Windermere is fed by two streams, which 

 unite at the head of the lake, named the Brathy and the 

 Rothay : the bottom of the former is rocky, and that of the 

 latter sandy. On the first sharp weather that occurs in Novem- 

 ber, the char makes up the Brathy, in large shoals, for the 

 purpose of spawning, preferring that river to the Rothay, 

 probably owing to the bottom being rocky, and resembling 

 more the bottom of the lake ; and it is singular that those fish 

 which ascend the Rothay invariably return and spawn in the 

 Brathay ; they remain in this stream, and in the shallow parts of 

 the lake, until the end of March. While spawning, their colour 

 and spots are much darker than when in season ; the mouth 

 and fins being of a deep yellow colour; and they are covered 

 with a thick slime at this time. In the water before Brathy 

 Hall, at Clappersgate, hundreds may be seen rubbing and 

 rooting at the bottom, endeavouring to free themselves from 

 the slime, and probably msects that annoy them.* Great 



* On the analogy of the habits of the salmon, as described in Jameson's 

 PhilosophicalJournal for April, 1828, this collision with the soil may be for 

 depositing spawn or eggs therein. That work thus states: — " The salmon 

 having left the ocean, and found in the fresh-water streams suitable places 



