328 DR DAVY’S OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARR. 
Lietcu of Keswick, frequents in the spawning season a pool of a little mountain 
river, called, from the circumstance, the “Charr Dub,” about 300 yards from the 
head of the lake; itself (the pool) about 120 yards in length, and about 6 or 7 
yards in width, with a sandy, gravelly bottom, and large stones here and there 
interspersed. In this pool, it is said that the fish congregate, with great regu- 
larity as to time, about the 7th or 8th of November, and remain there usually 
about a fortnight, when, having performed the function for which they came, they 
return to the deep water of the lake. 
I make this statement in consequence of some naturalists, guided by the ana- 
logy of the best-known species of the Salmonidee, having inferred that, like them, 
the charr can breed only in running water, and that its being seen in large 
numbers in the spawning season in shallow water in lakes, was only preparatory 
to ascending the streams. The weight of evidence against this conclusion is such, 
that I think it cannot be maintained; nevertheless, it appeared to me worth 
while to make a few experiments for the purpose, if possible, of testing it. With 
this intent, portions of roe, after having been mixed with liquid milt, were put 
into vessels, some of earthenware, some of glass, with a limited quantity of water 
(not changed during the trial); some in the open air, some within doors. This 
was done on the 4th of November, using the roe that had been obtained on the 
30th of October, the same as that from which three ova, as already mentioned, 
had been hatched in forty-one days. None of these trials were perfectly success- 
ful: excepting in one, no progress towards development was observable. This 
was in the instance of ova contained in a glass bottle of eight ounces capacity, the 
water about two inches deep, and kept in a room, the temperature of which was 
commonly about 55°. On the 26th of the same month, marks of progress were 
observable in one of these ova; the eyes of the embryo were apparent as black 
specks, and vessels carrying red blood were to be seen ramifying in the vitelline 
membrane. The development went no farther. Even imperfect as this result is, 
is it not in favour of the conclusion that running water is not’ essential to the 
hatching of the fish ? 
Mr Reynotps mixed together the roe of a lake trout and the fluid milt of a 
charr, which he placed in his breeding-boxes in November. In 70 days some of 
the ova were hatched, and the young fish had a hybrid character, the fish them- 
selves having much the appearance of the charr of the same age, whilst the yolk 
attached, with its few large richly-coloured oil globules, was exactly similar to 
that of the trout. Is not, I would ask, this fact that the ova of the one species 
can be fertilized by the spermatic fiuid of the other, in favour also of the conclu- 
sion that the breeding-places of the two are different? Were they not so, as the 
breeding season of the two is the same, a constant crossing would be almost 
unavoidable, and a confusion and loss of species would be an almost necessary 
consequence. 

