506 Dr KNOX on the Natural History of 



valued by the inhabitants on the margin of the lake, as by others 

 at a greater distance, since no ingenuity has as yet succeeded in 

 taking them with an angle ; so that they are never seen except 

 during the annual meeting of the Vendace Club, or when fished 

 by the special permission of Mr MURRAY, the proprietor, who 

 keeps a net and boat*. It were worthy the attention of the 

 Societies established for the encouragement and protection of 

 British Fisheries, and of wealthy private individuals, to extend 

 the range of the vendace, by transferring it to the numerous lakes 

 spread over this country, its food (being now known,) being first 

 ascertained to be present, or if not in the lake, located for a con- 

 siderable period. As connected with their generation and con- 

 venient transfer to other lakes, we may remark, that the ova 

 of the vendace were found to be very large on the 14th Decem- 

 ber, so that they evidently spawn in the depth of winter ; and I 

 have ascertained, contrary to the generally recorded opinion, that 

 they not only bear handling, but are pretty retentive of life, after 

 being removed from their native element, so that removal to a 

 distance is by no means impracticable. Thus we should obtain 

 an excellent article of food, and an addition to our markets, in- 

 stead of all that tribe of fishes of the dace and bream or carp 

 kind, which hardly any one in this country will use as food. It 

 were easy, even in certain lakes, to procure an exclusive habitat 

 for the vendace. The speculation were no doubt a profitable 

 one. 



The Castle Loch of Lochmaben contains twelve or thirteen 

 different kinds of fishes, in particular all the family of the Daces 

 of naturalists, which are so inferior as an article of food, that 

 when taken they are given to the pigs. Trout of a very large 

 size are said to have been taken in the lake. All the fishes in 



* I beg here to offer my best thanks to Provost THOMSON, for his great libe- 

 rality and kindness in allowing me to fish the lake during the summer of 1833. 



