429 



2. Notice of the Vendace of Derwentwater, Cumberland, 



in a letter addressed to Sir William Jardine, Bart., by 

 John Davy, M.D. 



In this communication the author first gives an account of the 

 occurrence of the Vendace (a fish hitherto supposed to bo confined to 

 the lochs of Lochmaben in Dumfries-shire) in two of the lakes 

 of Cumberland, viz., Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake, in 

 each of which it seems to be pretty abundant, and to have been long 

 known to the boatmen: secondly, he offers some speculative sugges- 

 tions as to the diffusion of species in the instance of this fish, giving 

 the preference to that presuming that its transfer might have been 

 accidentally effected by the impregnated ova being conveyed by 

 aquatic animals : adducing in favour of this conjecture facts ascer- 

 tained by him respecting the ova of the Salmonidaj, such as their 

 bearing exposure in a moist atmosphere for days without losing 

 their vitality, and also, with equal impunity, the reduction of their 

 temperature to the freezing point of water, and their entanglement 

 in and adhesion to ice. 



3. On the Races of the We.stern Coast of Africa. By Colonel 



Luke Smyth O'Connor, C.B., Governor of the Gambia. 

 Communicated by Professor Kelland. 



The British possess three colonies on the western coast of Africa : 

 Gambia, 2490 miles from England, in latitude 13" 30' N., longitude 

 14° 40' W. ; 600 miles south, Sierra Leone, in latitude 8" 30' 

 N., longitude 13° 10' "W. ; and, 1500 miles down in the Bight 

 of Benin, Gold or Cape Coast Castle, in latitude 5° 5' 25" N., 

 longitude 1° 12' 45 "W. 



Gambia is selected for this paper, as not only the first, but the 

 most singular and interesting of our African colonies. 



Nearly two centuries have glided away since the British, by per- 

 mission of the kings and chiefs of Combo, established a settlement 

 on the island of St Mary's, — a mere bank of sand, swamp, mud, 

 and mangroves, pregnant with miasma, and well stocked with alli- 

 gators, — situated near the mouth of the river Gambia, along whose 

 banks we by degrees established small trading ports or factories, 

 until at last we reached Pisania, nearly 300 miles up the river, 

 VOL. III. 2 N 



