GUINIAD. 



287 



like it also in situations where it exists, it is sometimes met 

 with in large numbers. This is particularly the case in Wales, 

 and also in Cumberland; but they belong to lakes rather 

 than rivers, and as they are at times found assembled in 

 schools, and thus collected, come near the shore in spring 

 and summer, they provide a welcome feast for the people of 

 the neighbourhood; for although not valued as a delicacy for 

 the epicure, they are relished by those whose sauce is a good 

 appetite. Pennant reports, on the authority of a friend, that 

 between seven and eight thousand have been taken with a 

 net at a single draught. He adds that the flesh is insipid, 

 and soon spoils, but that it is usual to preserve them with 

 salt, and also that they die very soon after being taken. 



These fish spawn in the winter, but no particular account 

 has been given of the proceeding, and the fish itself has 

 been little noticed by anglers; so that the patriarch of the 

 art, who probably never saw an example, is content to copy 

 what he says of it from CambJen, who mentions it only as 

 a little-known rarity. He says, "The River Dee, which 

 runs by Chester, springs in Merionethshire, and as it runs 

 towards Chester it runs through Pemble Mere, which is a 

 large water; and it is observed that though the River Dee 

 abounds with Salmon, and Pemble Mere with Guiniad, yet 

 there is never any Salmon caught in the mere, nor a Guiniad 

 in the river." It is also said to be taken in Coningston 

 Mere, in Lancashire; but of all its known resorts, the above- 

 named Welsh lake, which is also termed Bala, Llyn Tegid, 

 and Pimbee Mere possesses it in the greatest abundance; and 

 I feel indebted to the kindness of Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart., 

 for the opportunity of procuring specimens from which our 

 figure and description were taken. It has been reported as 

 having been found in Ireland, where, however, it is not 

 mentioned by Mr. Thompson, of Belfast; and it is to be 

 doubted whether the so-called Fresh-water Herring, or PoUan, 

 has not been mistaken for it. 



The example described was twelve inches in length, and 

 two inches and three fourths deep in front of the dorsal fin, 

 from which part it first slopes gradually, and then more 

 rapidly to the snout, which overhangs the mouth; the slope 

 from the snout to the mouth square; gape small; lower jaw 



