THE CHAR AND THE SMELT 277 
greater proportion of char which find their way to the market 
are taken with nets. From immemorial times potted char has 
been reckoned a delicacy peculiar to the Lake District ; but, 
in fact, there is not much superiority in the flavour of char 
over that of good and rather small trout. Such flavour as 
may be peculiar to them is pretty well disguised by the pepper 
and other condiments introduced as preservatives when the 
fish are potted. However, the industry is a fairly profitable 
one, the usual market price of char being 1s. 6d. a pound. 
The licence for a char-net in Windermere costs {1 135. 44., 
and the average take during the six years 1893-98 was 
about 4,000 lb., of the gross annual value of £250. 
The Smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) 
FIns. TEETH. 
First Dorsal: 11 rays. Dentition strong; teeth on the upper jaw 
Second Dorsal: Rayless, much smaller than those on the lower jaw 
adipose. or mandible ; those on the vomer strong 
Pectoral: 1% rays. and fang-like, in a transverse series ; coni- 
Ventral: 8 rays. cal teeth on palatine and pterygoid bones. 
Anal; 15 or 16 rays. Teeth on the forepart of the tongue very 
strong and fang-like, with several longi- 
tudinal rows of smaller teeth behind them. 
The name “smelt” is popularly understood to refer to the 
peculiar odour emitted by this fish when caught; and to 
support this explanation the Rev. W. Houghton, in his British 
Fresh-water Fishes, cites the Greek adjective é0pmpés, fragrant, 
which Artedi (1705-1735) chose as the title of the genus. 
Professor Skeat, however, has pointed out that, although the 
fish in question bore the same name in Anglo-Saxon that we 
use at this day, the verb “to smell”? has not been found in 
that language. He connects it rather with the verb “to smelt” 
—to fuse ore—the root meaning being “to melt.’ The 
Norwegian sme/ta and the Danish sme/t signify both “a mass, a 
