253 



THE CHARS. 



There are few British fishes over which so much obscuritj 

 has hung as those which bear the name of Char; nor has the 

 difficulty of determining the species for practical purposes 

 even now been more than partially removed. A fish of this 

 name is mentioned by Willoughby, who regarded the differences 

 which he perceived between examples that came within his 

 notice as being characteristic of two species, and these he 

 called by the names they bore among the fishermen, as Torgoch 

 or the Red-bellied Char, and the Gelt Char. In this again 

 he is followed by his editor and friend the learned Ray, in 

 his "Synopsis Piscium," who also remarks in his "Itinerary" 

 concerning one of these fishes, "At Llanberis, Bettew, Festiniog, 

 there is a fish taken called Torgoch, blackish upon the back, 

 red under the belly — from which it obtains its name — and of 

 which they tell some fabulous stories; as that three sons of 

 the church brought them from Rome, and put them into three 

 lakes, to wit, Llanberis, Llynumber, and Trevennyn, into each 

 two. They were taken in each lake, but only at one time 

 of the year, and at a different time in the several lakes. At 

 Llanberis they say that they are taken only in the night, and 

 that when it is not moonlight;" which circumstance, we may 

 add, in regard to their habits, might have raised a doubt 

 whether the fish of that lake might not be a different species 

 from some of the others, as indeed has since been shewn to 

 be the case; although it must also be remarked that more than 

 one species may inhabit the same piece of water, and then 

 of course the actions of each may be supposed to vary as 

 concerns the time of their appearance and capture. But as 

 regards the particular points of difference between the fishes 

 they mention, both of these excellent naturalists appear to 

 have been in some degree mistaken, since it seems certain 

 that the fish usually termed the Gelt Char is only an individual 

 which, as the word is intended to signify, is barren — at least 



