272 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
the distinctions relied on would remain permanent under altered 
conditions. Unluckily, such experiments must be regarded as 
almost, if not quite, impracticable, owing to the depth of water 
which is essential to adult char. 
The name char, or charr, is assigned by Professor Skeat 
to an origin in the Gaelic word ceara, signifying “red,” a 
very appropriate epithet for fish which not only often have 
pink flesh, but display brilliant hues of red and orange in 
the breeding season. 
The distribution of the chars is very remarkable. Confined 
to the northern hemisphere, various species exist in Europe, 
Asia, and America. The largest and most remarkable of these 
is only found in the Danube and its tributaries, Salmo hucho 
rivalling the salmon in size. The so-called brook-trout of 
North America also is a char, Sa/velinus fontinalis, and has 
been reared successfully in great quantities for naturalisation 
in Great Britain; but something in our waters is displeasing 
to it, and it invariably disappears, apparently descending rivers 
and escaping to sea. 
The Char (Salmo alpinus) 
FIns. TEETH. 
First Dorsal: 12 or ¥3 soft rays. As in the salmon, 
Second Dorsal: Rayless, adipose. except that the 
Pectoral: 13 or 14 soft rays. » vomer bears teeth 
Ventral: g or 10 soft rays. only on the head, 
Anal; 12 soft rays. or forepart. 
If the distribution of the chars in general is remarkable 
and puzzling, still more so is that of the British species, 
which abounds in Lapland and Scandinavia, occurs in the 
Hebrides and the Orkney Islands, and in isolated sheets of 
water in Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England. A 
very closely allied species or variety has been distinguished 
in Iceland under the name of Sa/velinus, or Salmo, nivalis. 
