GEX. COREGONUS. THE POLLAN. 15? 



other Coregoni already noticed. According to Mr. 

 Thompson, it approaches the shores of Lough Neagh 

 in large shoals, not only during spring and summer, 

 but even when autumn is far advanced. The 

 usual time of fishing for it is in the afternoon. It 

 is caught in sweep nets, cast at a very short distance 

 from the shore, in what quantities will appear from 

 the following facts. On one occasion, at three or 

 four draughts of the net, one hundred and forty 

 hundreds one hundred and twenty-three fish to 

 the hundred, or 17,220 fish were taken. In an- 

 other instance fifty hundreds six thousand one 

 hundred and fifty individuals were taken at one 

 draught of a net, besides an immense quantity of 

 Trout. They are usually sold at the Lough side at 

 the rate of from 3s. 4d. to 4s. a hundred, and con- 

 veyed to towns in the neigbourhood for sale, but, 

 like the other members of this genus, they do not 

 keep long after being taken from the water. The 

 cry of " Fresh Pollan" is as frequently heard in the 

 streets of Belfast, as that of " Fresh Herring" is 

 elsewhere. 



The spawning season is in the months of No- 

 vember and December ; the places selected for the 

 purpose being such as have a hard or rocky bottom. 

 Small Crustacea (particularly of the genus Gamma- 

 rus), entomostraca, shell-fish (gen. Pisidium and 

 Limneus), and the fry of small fishes (sticklebacks), 

 form their food. Lough Neagh, Lough Derg, and 

 Lough Erne, are the only recorded places frequented 

 Pollan. 



