THE VENDACE 113 



The British and Irish forms of Whitefish may be 

 grouped as follows : — 



Mouths 



•terminal, with the (l^^^naw projecting- r.;/</.^... 

 yaws equal m front — rollan 



subterminal or in- Tvcrtically or somewhat obliquely truncated 

 ferior, with the^ — Pozuan, Schelly, and Cnvyniad 

 snout (produced, conical — Houtiui; 



The Vendace of Lochmaben {Coregonus 

 vandesius) apparently derives its name from the 

 old French word " Vendese," the modern equivalent 

 of which is " Vandoise," the Dace. 



The pretty little town of Lochmaben in Dumfries- 

 shire has no less than seven lochs in its immediate 

 vicinity, and is actually built on the banks of three 

 of these — the Castle, Kirk, and Mill Lochs, the first 

 and last of which are inhabited by the Vendace 

 The Castle Loch, so named from the ruins of 

 Bruce's Castle on its banks, is by far the largest, 

 but it is of no great size, and one can easily walk 

 right round it in an hour ; its greatest length is three- 

 fourths of a mile, and its breadth nearly as much ; this 

 loch is not more than about 20 feet deep, whereas 

 the much smaller Mill Loch (3 furlongs long and 

 \\ broad) is said to have a depth of 70 feet. 



The Vendace is a small fish, reaching a length 

 of only 9 inches, and in form and coloration shows 

 considerable resemblance to a Herring. The body 

 is fusiform, but compressed ; the head is pointed, 

 with the mouth oblique, the maxillary extending to 

 below the anterior part of the eye, and the lower 

 jaw projecting ; the branchial arches are furnished 

 with numerous long and slender gill-rakers. 



In these features the Vendace agrees with some 



