VEND ACE. 



1.55 



and flat to about the anterior margin of the eye ; pectoral pointed, its length is more than 

 half the distance between its base and that of the ventral fin. The colour above lateral line 

 a beautiful glossy brown, slightly tinged with delicate pink ; iridescent and silvery below lateral 

 line ; belly pure white ; gill-cover bright silvery ; eye large, irides white ; tail deeply incised. 

 The fin-ray formula in this species — 



Dorsal 14 — 15. 

 Anal 13 — 16. 



Order IV. 

 PHFSOSTOMI. 



Family 

 SALMONID^. 



Sub-generic Group — Salvelini. 



IfENDACE. 



[Coregoims vandesius.) 



Vandesius et Gevandcsius, 



Vangis and Juvangis of Loch ilfabcn, 



Vendace, 



Coregonus marcenula, 

 Corcgonus willughhii, 

 Coregonus vandesius. 



SiBBALD, Scotia Illustrata p. 26. 



Pennant, Brit. Zool. iii. p. 420, ed. 1812. 



Knox, Transact. Roy. Soc. Ed. xii. p. 503; Yarrell, ii. p. 146; 



Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl. iv. p. 289, pi. 230. 

 Jenyns' Man. p. 432. 



Jardine's lUust. Scot. Salm. pi. 6; Yarrell, ii. p. 146. 

 Richardson, Faun. Bor-Amcr. iii. p. 213; Gunther's Cat. vi. p. 194. 



T I 1HE only recorded locality for the Vendace is, I believe. Loch Maben, in Dumfriesshire, 

 -L and the neighbouring waters. Sir William Jardine was the first to recognise this fish as 

 a distinct species. His account of it I shall transcribe, as I know nothing of this fish excepting 

 from specimens in the British Museum and in that at Liverpool. "The Vendace is well 

 known to almost every person in the neighbourhood ; and if among the lower classes fish 

 should at any time form the subject of conversation, the Vendace is immediately mentioned, 

 and the loch regarded with pride, as possessing something of great curiosity to visitors, and 

 which is thought not to exist elsewhere. The story that it was introduced into these lochs by 

 the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, as mentioned by Pennant in his description of the 

 Gwyniad, and it is likely that his information was derived from this vicinity, is still in circulation. 

 That the fish was introduced from some continental lake, I have little doubt;* but would rather 

 attribute the circumstance to some of the religious establishments, which at one time prevailed 

 in the neighbourhood, and which were well known to pay considerable attention both to the 

 table and the cellar. Mary would scarcely prefer a lake so far from even her temporary residence, 

 for the preservation of a luxury of troublesome introduction, and leave her other fishponds 

 destitute of such a delicacy. An idea prevails that this fish, if once taken from the water, 

 will die, and that an immediate return will be of no avail ; and it is also believed that it 

 will not exist in any other water except that of the Castle Loch. These are, of course, 

 opinions which have gradually, from different circumstances, gained weight, and have at last 



This species is not, I believe, knmvn lo occur anywhere on the Continent; but one cannot say it does not exist 



there. 



