Mr. W. Thompson's Notes on British Char. 447 



been noticed : — In Camden's ' Britannia 5 it is remarked — 

 " Lough Esk, near Townavilly [co. Donegal] , yields the Char 

 in great abundance : a most delicate fish, generally about 9 

 inches long." (Gough's ed. vol. hi. p. 644.) I have seen a 

 specimen from this locality in Mr. Yarrell's collection ; it was 

 supplied to him by Lord Cole, and is noticed in the Supple- 

 ment to his ' British Fishes' (p. 27) as S. Umbla. Smith, in his 

 ' History of Waterford,' p. 208, observes—" In these moun- 

 tains [Cummeragh] are four considerable loughs, two of 

 which are called by the Irish Cummeloughs, and the other 

 two Stilloges, the largest of which contains about five or six 

 acres. In these loughs are several kinds of trout ; and in the 

 former is a species of fish called Charrs, about 2 feet long, the 

 male gray-, the female yellow-bellied ; when boiled the flesh 

 of these Charrs is as red and curdy as a salmon, and eats more 

 delicious than any trout. It is remarkable that this kind of 

 fish is often found in such lakes situated in mountainous 

 places, as we learn from Dr. Robinson's Natural History of 

 Westmoreland and Cumberland." In the British Zoology of 

 Pennant (vol. hi. p. 409, ed. 1812) it is mentioned on the au- 

 thority of " Dr. Vyse, an eminent physician and botanist at 

 Limerick, that the Charr is found in the lake of Inchigeelagh, 

 in the county of Cork, and in one or two other small lakes in 

 this neighbourhood." In Dubourdieu's History of the 

 county of Antrim (vol. i. p. 119) there is a communication 

 from Mr. Templeton on the Char of Lough Neagh, illustrated 

 by a figure ; it is here stated to be the same as the Char of 

 Windermere, as distinguished from the S. Salvelinus, Don. 

 Mr. Templeton here informs us that this fish is taken in L. 

 Neagh " from the end of September to the end of November 

 in nets along with Pollans [Cor eg onus Pollari], They always 

 keep the deep w r ater, except in warm weather, when they are 

 sometimes found in the shallow. The best time for taking 

 them is in nights that are calm, clear, and a little frosty ; the 

 capture of the Pollans begins to fail sooner than that of the 

 Whiting," — the name by which the Char is known at this lake. 

 It is likewise remarked, that "the Whiting is generally about 

 12 inches long, though I have seen one of 15." Again, in his 

 Catalogue of c Irish Vertebrate Animals ' (Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 vol. i. new series), Mr. Templeton observes, — * In a lake of the 

 county of Donegal, near Dunfanaghy, I observed some boys 

 catching small Char with lines and hooks baited with com- 

 mon earthworms. * * * In L. Eaghishtj in the county Mo- 

 naghan, I have known them caught agreeing exactly in their 



f Incorrectly printed " Esk" in the Magazine. 



