the Salmon, Herring, and Vendace. 505 



writers, placing it, as it were, between the salmon and herring, to 

 both of which it is in some point or other allied *. 



Of this Lochmaben Vendace, which perhaps yields in delicacy 

 as an article of food to none with which I am acquainted, it was 

 known that, they never had been taken with an angle, and that they 

 could not be taken with any bait ; it was also generally credited 

 that they died immediately on being removed from the water, 

 and the male fish had not been seen. I discovered the male fish, 

 but they were few in number, or taken with more difficulty than 

 the female, the proportion being generally one male to a dozen 

 of females. I found also that they live as long as most fishes on 

 being removed from the water, and that their food, previously ima- 

 gined to be an unknown vegetable substance, consists exclusively 

 of microscopic animals of the class Entomostraca, and which, for 

 the apprehension of those unacquainted with natural history, we 

 may call microscopic shell-fish, generally about T Vths of a line in 

 length, and abounding, as it would seem, in incredible numbers in 

 the lakes frequented by the vendace. These entomostraca breed 

 very frequently throughout the year, and carrying the ova about 

 with them, as is the habit of most crustaceous and testaceous ani- 

 mals, they offer a rich and tempting, and at the same time most 

 delicate, bait for the vendace; hence the delicacy of the fish, its 

 admirable condition, want of putrescent remains in the intestines, 

 and hence all those excellent qualities for which the Lochmaben 

 vendace is so deservedly prized. It at present, in fact, is as much 



* My reason for selecting the Vendace or Corregonus as the next object of in- 

 quiry, may here be stated. It was admitted to be allied to both genera, viz. to the 

 Cliipea and Salmo, and to be a fish whose food was absolutely unknown. The same 

 was true of the Herring ; but I fancied an inquiry into the food of the Corrego- 

 nus, as being a fresh- water fish, whose habitat was, as it were, local or very limited, 

 to be a matter more within my reach, at least compared with the herring. I ima- 

 gined, also, that could I discover the food of the Corregonus, I should be led to 

 that of the herring. The result proved me right in my conjecture. 



