THe VENDACE. 125 
gonus, viz., (1) the Gwyniad (c. clupeoides), which occurs in 
Lake Bala, in Wales, in Ullswater, and some other of the Cumber- 
land and Westmoreland lakes, where it is known as the 
“ Schelly,’’ and in Loch Lomond under the more familiar name 
of “ Powan;’’ (2) the Pollan (C. pollan), which is found in some 
of the loughs of Ireland, notably that of Lough Neagh. The 
cry of “Fresh Pollan’’ is said to be quite a familiar sound in 
the streets of Belfast at certain seasons. The third species is the 
Vendace. Not one of our three British species has been found 
elsewhere outside of our islands, nor is ever likely to be. I 
present the distribution of this genus and its component species as 
a puzzle in evolution. How did our three British species 
originate and how may their present distribution be accounted for ? 
Once that problem has been solved the exotic species may be 
investigated. | Some of them live isolated in remote sheets of 
water, and at depths so great that when chased to the surface by 
other fish, or brought there by accident, they die at once owing 
to the pressure of the expanded air in the blood vessels, or by the 
reduction of atmospheric pressure so inflating the body as to burst 
the abdominal walls. Let me now leave its congeners and 
discuss for a little the Vendace itself. 
This remarkable fish is found in several of the Lochmaben 
lochs. Just what are its precise limits of distribution I have never 
been able to gather definite information upon. The Castle Loch 
is, of course, its main habitat. One of the many popular, but 
totally inexact, beliefs in regard to the Vendace, is that it breeds 
only in the Mill Loch, whence the young fry find their way to the 
Castle and Broomhill Lochs. I have seen young of the species in 
the Castle Loch, where it is impossible they could have come 
from the Mill Loch, so the popular idea is, so far, incorrect. 
Odd fish have been seen and taken in the Annan, but they do not 
thrive there, and probably all that thus stray die, or become the 
prey of other fish. Opinions seem to differ very materially as to 
the relative numbers of the Vendace now as compared with 
former times. I am inclined to give weight to the opinion that 
it has decreased considerably these twenty years past. Eels are 
larger and more numerous, and so the spawn of the Vendace will 
suffer, while I am informed that pike have greatly increased. 
Therefore the adults must have suffered diminution. But, after 
