258 



THE CHARS. 



of Windermere and of Wales. In this respect it could only 

 be compared with the Fresh-water Herring of Lough Melvin; 

 from which however it differs in its much larger teeth, wider 

 mouth, the maxillary (mystache) extending behind the orbit, 

 the much more lengthened body, and the proportion of the 

 fins. It differs therefore from these British Chars in nearly 

 every one of its external characters, and agrees with the Irish 

 sjjecies only in its plainer colouring and the size of its scales. 



Linnaeus, in his "Tour through Lapland," discovered a species 

 which in his "Lachesis Lapponica," and also in his "System 

 of Nature," from its inhabiting very lofty situations he named 

 S. alpinus ; and he follows Artedi in supposing it the same 

 with Willoughby's British Char; as was thought likewise by 

 Dr. Fleming; but by comparing Nilsson's description of it with 

 British examples before mentioned, Dr. Gunther found such 

 differences as to persuade him that they are not the same; 

 except as applied to a species taken in a lake, presently to be 

 mentioned, in the Highlands of Scotland, and of which also I 

 have through the kindness of Mr. Embleton been so fortunate 

 as to receive examples. 



After noticing at some length the discrepancies which exist 

 between the accounts of these fishes by several more modern 

 writers, Dr. Gunther proceeds with a description, accompanied 

 with figures, of the British species which he had examined; to 

 which with the further aid of that gentleman and of examples 

 supplied from the sources already mentioned, we shall be able 

 to add two additional species; but before we enter on these 

 particulars, as their individual habits are not distinctively 

 described, we find it more convenient to give a sketch of the 

 general history of this family; and thus to limit our account 

 of the several species for the most part to a description of each 

 of them; since it is only thus that a proper discrimination can 

 be established between them. 



It is a character of all the Chars that they inhabit the colder 

 regions of deep waters, where the temperature is little liable 

 to vary, and does not sink to an excessive degree. Nor are 

 they accustomed to swift or running streams, although there is 

 one which we shall notice — the Alpine — that frequents waters 

 of the latter description rather more than the others, and others 

 when proceeding to an eligible situation for depositing their 



