ICHTHYOLOGY. 



243 



Classifioa- less tinted with orange. The spotting is large and not 

 tion— Ma- numerous, and consists of black spots placed in a pale 

 lacopteri. circle, and of large pink spots with a similar light area. 

 These extend over the gill-covers, upper fins, and often 

 over the tail itself. A variety occurs in Loch Loyal, in 

 Sutherland ; above, purplish brown ; beneath, blackish gray ; 

 the whole body spotted over with dark sepia coloured spots, 

 of a smaller size on the lower portions. Salmo ferox ap- 

 pears to be entirely confined to the lakes, seldom ascending 

 or descending rivers, or wandering in and out of them, and 

 never migrating to the sea. When spawning, it ascends 

 for a short way up the rivers or streams which run into the 

 lakes, but never, as far as yet known, descends those which 

 run out of them. It inhabits, among the English lakes, 

 Ulswater ; but does not there reach a size above ten or 

 eleven pounds. In Ireland, as far as we can yet learn 

 (specimens having not yet reached us on this side of the 

 water), it is found in Loch Neagh and some other large 

 lakes ; and in Scotland we have taken it in Loch Avve, 

 Loch Laggan, the upper end of Loch Shin, and Lochs 

 Loyal and Assynt. It is a fish of remarkable ferocitj', and 

 as great an enemy to its smaller companions as the Pike. 

 It may be taken by night lines, or by strong trolling tackle, 

 baited with a small Trout, and will return a second and third 

 time to the bait, even after it has been dragged for forty or 

 fifty yards. 



The Salmonida, though they take so important a place 

 among the fresh-water fishes of Europe, are still more 

 abimdant in the northern Siberian rivers, and in the great 

 lakes and rivers of North America. On the Pacific coast, 

 indeed, of British North America some populous tribes of 

 natives subsist chiefly throughoiit the year on the Salmon 

 and Trout, which they take at the beginning of the spawn- 

 ing season, and preserve by drying. Descriptions of some 

 of the species are given in the Fauna Boreali Americana, 

 and the Fauna Rossica of Pallas contains accoimts of the 

 numerous interesting Asiatic SalmonidcB. The common 

 Salmon, we have said above, frequents the Atlantic and 

 Arctic coasts of British North America ; but there is a 

 Trout in the great lakes and interior rivers which equals the 

 Salmon in size, and is at least equal to it in flavour and ex- 

 cellence as an article of diet. This is the Salar namay- 

 cusli (Pennant), which is very commonly taken of a size 

 varying from twenty to forty pounds, and is reported to 

 grow to sixty and upwards, though fish of that weight are 

 as rare as a Salmon equally heavy. The Namaycusli is taken 

 in considerable numbers for the American markets at the 

 fisheries established on Lakes Huron and Superior for the 

 capture of another member of the family of still greater ex- 

 cellence, the Coregonus sapidus of Agassiz, or the albus 

 of the Fauna Boreali Americana. This Coregonus, the 

 well known " White Fish" of the fur traders, is found in 

 every lake and river from the United States northwards, 

 and it descends even to the mouths of the rivers that fall 

 into the Arctic Sea. In flavour, and all the qualities that 

 a fish can possess as an article of tbod, it surpasses, we be- 

 live, every other, whether fresh-water or marine ; and Euro- 

 peans previo\isly accustomed to a sufficient variety of diet, 

 have lived almost solely upon it for a year or more without 

 tiring of it. To the native population it is of vital import- 

 ance, and it is only in the Buffalo prairies that they can 

 subsist without its aid ; while to many tribes it forms the 

 chief food. Within a few years fisheries, employing a large 

 fleet of ships, chiefly belonging to the United Sates, have 

 been established for the capture of this fish on Lakes Huron 

 and Superior. Several other species of Coregonus, known 

 locally by the name of "Herring Salmons,"exist in the Ame- 

 rican waters, but they are much inferior in quality, and re- 

 semble the European species more nearly as articles of diet. 

 Even they, however, are delicate food, and would be 

 esteemed were they not so much surpassed by the " White 



Fish." It may be remarked here that M. Agassiz, who is Classifica- 

 now in a position to investigate the ichthyology of America *'<"> — M*" 

 thoroughly, has already perceived that every lake, basin, l'"^°P'«"- 

 and river system in that country possesses peculiar species ^"^ 

 of fish, though some species are common to several water- 

 sheds. He found this to be the case with Lepidostcus and 

 Coregonus ; and if his observations prove the fact in that 

 continent, we may expect to perceive that the same law 

 exists elsewhere, though the European lake and river sys- 

 tems, being comparatively very small, it may not be so ap- 

 parent with us. M. Valenciennes describes many Euro- 

 pean Coregoni. Of the British species, he says that the 

 Coregonus pollan of Thomson (Yarrell, Supp. 24) is very 

 similar to his C. sikus, which inhabits Norway, in the 

 vicinity of the North Cape, but that its head is smaller and 

 its jaws more equal. The Pollan inhabits Loch Neagh, 

 and Mr Thomson says that 1 7,000 were taken there at 

 either three or four draughts of the net in September 1834. 

 It is a fish that is brought in quantities to Belfast market 

 during its season. Of the Powan (Yarrell), the C. Cepedei 

 of Parnell, he says that he has found the original descrip- 

 tion of Noel de la Mariniere, on which Lacepede founded 

 his C. clupeoides,, in which the fish is called also " Span" or 

 " Pollock." Noel had gone to Loch Lomond to see what 

 were said to be sea Herrings naturalized in the fresh- 

 water lake, and thus the species was introduced into our 

 systems. Pallas had already used the specific name of 

 Clupeoides for another Coregonus, and the name given by 

 Dr Parnell will therefore remain as the scientific appella- 

 tion of the fish. At Loch Lomond Shelley is one of its 

 local names. M. Valenciennes thinks that this species has 

 not yet been discovered on the Continent. C. Peymanti 

 is the Welsh Gwyniad of Yarrell {Brit. Fish., ii., 85) ; 

 but, according to M. Valenciennes, very different from the 

 fera, with which Pennant confounded it, and equally so 

 from the Lavaret of Switzerland. The specific name of 

 Pennanti is therefore employed in the Histoire des Pois- 

 sons to distinguish it. The species which inhabits Loch- 

 maben, a piece of water that bathes the ruins of Bruce's 

 Castle, is locally known as the Vangis, Vendace, Ju- 

 vangis. According to the traditions of the place, it was 

 originally imported thither from the Continent by Queen 

 Mary. Sir William Jardine was the first who correctly 

 described the Lochmaben fish under the name of C. 

 Willughbii, but recognizing at the same time its close re- 

 semblance to the S. albula of Linnasus. M. Valenciennes, 

 by a comparison of specimens, has decided it to be in fact 

 the albula of the Fauna Suecica, and has therefore described 

 it under that specific name in the Histoire des Poissons. It 

 it is the Blitka of Lake Siljan in Dalecarlia, and the Vemme, 

 or, when its resemblance to the Herring is referred to, the 

 Land-sild of the inhabitants bordering on Lake Miaes. Ac- 

 cording to Bloch, it exists in Silesia, Brandenbourg, Pome- 

 rania, and Mecklenbourg ; and M. Martens found an ex- 

 tremely similar Coregotius, if not actually the same, at 

 Kamtschatka. Artedi mentions Sik-loja and Strut as its 

 Swedish names, Blieta as its Silesian one, and Moiku and 

 Rapis as those by which it is known to the Fins. The 

 Vendace of Lochmaben, whatever scientific name it may 

 ultimately receive, is one of the most elegant of the Co- 

 regoni, though of a small size, reaching from four to ten 

 inches in length. The head is of an angular shape, and 

 small compared with the size and depth of the body. The 

 crown of the head is very transparent, and the form of the 

 brain, which is heart-shaped, is seen through the integu- 

 ments. This peculiarity is one of the first things pointed out 

 to the stranger naturalist who visits Lochmaben to see this 

 species. The eye is large and brilliant ; the body rises 

 gracefully to the back fin, and recedes with a gradual curve 

 to the tail ; the under line is nearly straight from the gills 

 to the ventral fin. The upper parts are of a delicate greenish- 



