ADDITIONAL NOTES. 305 



were known there. In the stomach of this fish — a fish abundant 

 in Hawes Water — I found the remains of two or three different 

 kinds of small flies. That it is not oftener taken with a fly is 

 not surprising, when we consider that comparatively large arti- 

 ficial flies are commonly used in lake-fishing, and, moreover, 

 keeping in mind the conformation of its mouth and tongue, 

 without teeth, or, if any (in the one I examined there were a few 

 towards the apex of the tongue and in the upper-lip), so small as 

 to be microscopic. According to Dr. Knox, the vendace of Loch- 

 mabon, which seems to differ very little, if at all, from the 

 shelley, feeds principally on minute entomostracous animals. 

 This has been confirmed by Mr. Yarrell, who found also in the 

 stomachs of some he examined portions of flies. Now, as the 

 structure of its mouth and that of the shelley seem nowise 

 adapted for feeding on vegetables, and I cannot learn that these 

 have been detected in its stomach, it is more than probable that 

 its food is chiefly animal. 



The shelley of Hawes Water, I may add, breeds in the still 

 water of the lake, depositing the ova on aquatic plants. It is 

 never known to run up the tributary streams. The breeding- 

 time of this fish is the autumn. The intelligent keeper at Hawes 

 Water told me that once, in September, he took some of its roe 

 from the " moss " (conferva, &c.) of the lake, which he transferred 

 to a basin, and, by changing the water daily, succeeded in hatch- 

 ing the ova. The young fish, when they first appeared, he 

 described as being hardly half an inch in length, provided with 

 a yolk-bag and a marginal posterior fin, i. e. one connecting the 

 dorsal, caudal, and anal ; after about five weeks they acquired 

 the size of ordinary minnows, with the colouring and decided, 

 unmistakeable character of the shelley. — J. D. 



THE END. 



