Mr. W. Thompson's Notes on British Char. 445 



Char, taken at the same time as those just noticed, were sent 

 by Lord Cole to Mr. Yarrell, and in the Supplement to this 

 authors i History of British Fishes' (p. 27) are noticed as 

 identical with the Welsh species. 



London, May 1840. — During the latter half of this month 

 I had the opportunity of seeing quantities of Char from 

 Windermere exposed for sale at Mr. Groves' s, the well-known 

 fishmonger in Bond Street. On examination they differed 

 much from each other in size of fins: their colour was pre- 

 cisely that of the Lough Melvin fish ; and, like it too, the flesh 

 of specimens I bought in the last week of the month was pale- 

 coloured and soft — they were now in such bad condition that 

 Mr. Groves ceased to purchase them *. 



So far, the examples of Char treated of were examined when 

 fresh. The following, after being preserved in spirits or in a 

 dry state, have been received from the under-mentioned Scot- 

 tish lakes : 



L. Inch — which is one of the localities for Char noticed 

 by Pennant. Hence two fine specimens, about 14 inches in 

 length, were kindly sent me, in May 1837, by Professor Allen 

 Thomson of Aberdeen. They would be called the ff Northern 

 Char." The stomach of one of these was crammed with food, 

 consisting of insect larvae, entomostracous Crustacea, a small 

 Notonecta or Boat-fly, bivalve shells ot the genus Pisidium, and 

 minute gravel. Its caeca were 38 in number. 



L. Cork and L. Killin, Inverness-shire. From these 

 lakes examples of Char were brought me by my relative Ro- 

 bert Langtry, Esq., of Fortwilliam, near Belfast, on his re- 

 turn from Aberarder, after the sporting season of 1838. The 

 Loch Corr specimen — a " Northern Char" — is in beauty of 

 colour, and elegance combined with strength of form, the 

 finest example I have seen ; it is of a fine deep gray on the 

 upper parts, becoming lighter towards and below T the lateral 

 line, about which it is adorned with white spots ; on the lower 

 portion of the sides it is silvery, and beneath of the most bril- 

 liant red. This specimen is 16 inches in length, and, with an- 

 other of similar size, was taken by my friend when angling 

 with an artificial fly, on the 25th of September. The other, 

 which was eaten, was excellent and high-flavoured, the flesh 



* When at the inn at Waterhead, at the northern extremity of Coniston 

 Water, during a tour to the English lakes in June 1835, a number of Char 

 from this lake were kept alive by our host in a capacious wooden box or 

 trough, into which a constant stream of water poured. They were fine ex- 

 amples of the species, about a foot in length. Here I was informed that a 

 supply of this delicate fish was always kept up, that the "curious" visitor 

 might gratify his taste at any season by having fresh Char set before him 

 at the rate of ten shillings for the dozen of fish. 



