602 



SALMON. 



fish which can be kept only a very short time after it 

 is caught, and even then it is not of the very first 

 quality ; but the country people sometimes salt it as 

 a store against the time when fresh fish cannot be 

 obtained. 



The spawning time is winter, or very late in the 

 autumn ; and the fish do not leave the lakes in which 

 they reside, at least to any great distance, for the 

 performing of this operation. The length of the 

 groyniad when full-grown is from tea inches to a foot ; 

 the head occupies about one-fifth of the total length ; 

 and the depth of the body at the thickest part is 

 rather more than the length of the head. The dorsal 

 fin rises midway between the nose and the base of 

 the tail, and the ventral fins are immediately under 

 the middle of the dorsal. The tail is considerably 

 forked. The snout is pointed, and the head of a tri- 

 angular shape when viewed laterally. Both the 

 upper and the under outlines have considerable cur- 

 vature, but the upper one has the greatest. The 

 pupils of the eyes are dark blue, and the irides 

 silvery. The upper part of the body and the tips of 

 the fins are dusky blue ; this colour becomes paler 

 on the sides ; and the under parts, and also the gill- 

 covers and sides of the head, are silvery. The usual 

 number of rays in the fins are : thirteen in the dorsal, 

 seventeen in the pectoral, eleven in the ventral, six- 

 teen in the anal, and nineteen in the caudal. The 

 variety found in Ireland, chiefly in Lough Neagh we 

 believe, has the muzzle blunter, the dorsal fin farther 

 forward, the anal fin with fewer rays, and all the fins 

 generally of smaller size. 



VENDACE (Coregonus Willoitghbii). This fish is of 

 the same genus as the groyniad, and resembles it in a 

 good many respects, but there are specific differ- 

 ences ; and the vendace, as a British fish, is still 

 more limited and local in its distribution. It is found 

 only in the waters of Lochmaben and some other small 

 lakes in that part of Dumfries-shire, into which tradi- 

 tion says it was imported by Mary Queen of Scots ; 

 and as there is some romance about the fish, and its 

 dwelling is in a romantic and somewhat romancing 

 part of the country, the probability is that it will not 

 soon be given up. There is rather a curious coinci- 

 dence between one of the cognomens of the lake of 

 the vendace and one of those which have been the 

 most celebrated for Welch charr ; "the Money Loch" 

 is one of the names of Lochmaben, for Burns says of 

 the town . 



Marg-ery o' the Money Loch, 

 Whore lang she did abide ; 



and Cas-y-gedawl, the name of one of the lakes by 

 the side of Snowdon, has a similar meaning. The 

 vendace is not confined to the Castle Loch, or Loch 

 of Lochmaben by way of eminence, but occurs in the 

 neighbouring ones, though in no other part of Britain. 

 There are species somewhat analogous in some of the 

 lakes on the continent, but they have not been ex- 

 amined with such care as to enable one to decide 

 whether any of them is precisely the same with this 

 one ; and indeed a fish of so changeable a family, 

 confined to a narrow locality, may be supposed, if 

 originally an importation, to have taken a character 

 from its new abode. Sir William Jardine, to whom 

 we owe an interesting account of it, the only good 

 one that has been given from actual observation, con- 

 jectures that it may have been introduced by the 

 monks rather than by Mary. This we think very 



likely, for the holy fathers were fond of every thing 

 that promoted good cheer. It is said that they in- 

 troduced the grayling into England ; and, whether 

 that was the case or not, we know that they were 

 the first introducers of many of our best sorts of fruit 

 trees, and of an improved breed of cattle. 



Vendace is but a small fish, the female being 

 usually under nine inches in length, and the male not 

 exceeding seven. The following is an extract from 

 Sir W. Jardine's account of it : " In general habits, 

 the vendace nearly resemble the groyniad, and indeed 

 most of the allied species of the genus. They swim 

 in large shoals, and during the warm and clear wea- 

 ther retire to the depth of the lakes, apparently sen- 

 sible of the increased temperature. They are only 

 taken (taken only) with nets, a proper bait not being 

 yet discovered ; and the fact that little excrement is 

 found in their intestines has given rise to another 

 tradition, that they are able to subsist without food. 

 They are most successfully taken during a dull day 

 and sharp breeze, approaching (as they then approach) 

 near to the edges of the loch, and swimming in a 

 direction contrary to the wind. They spawn about 

 the commencement of November, and at this time 

 congregate in large shoals, frequently rising to the 

 surface of the water in the manner of the common 

 herring, and making a similar noise by their rise and 

 fall to and from (from and to?) the surface. The 

 sound may be distinctly heard, and the direction of 

 the shoal perceived, during a calm and clear evening. 

 They are very productive. The lochs abound with 

 pike, of which they are a favourite food ; but their 

 quantity seems in no degree diminished, notwith- 

 standing that vast numbers must be destroyed. They 

 are considered a great delicacy, resembling the smelt 

 a good deal in flavour ; and, though certainly very 

 palatable, the relish may be somewhat heightened by 

 the difficulty of always procuring a supply. During 

 the summer, fishing parties are frequent, introducing 

 some stranger friend to this Lochmaben white-bait ; 

 and a club, consisting of between twenty and thirty 

 of the neighbouring gentry, possessing a private net, 

 &c., meet annually, in July, to enjoy the sport of 

 fishing, and feasting upon the luxury." 



The opinion which Sir William mentions, not his 

 own of course, for he knows better, but the current 

 opinion of the place, respecting the abstinence of these 

 fishes, which is often selected with regard to salmon 

 and to others of this family, as well as of the some- 

 what allied family of the herrings, is in direct oppo- 

 sition both to the analogy and the fact. The analogy 

 is that, wherever there is much energy of action in an 

 animal, there must be a corresponding supply of food 

 to support the waste occasioned by that action ; and 

 the fact is, that all the family are ravenous feeders ; 

 that there should not be much of the remains of the 

 food found in the intestinal canal is more a proof of 

 the digestibility of the food and the power of diges- 

 tion than any thing else. Mr. Yarrell found a copious 

 supply of food in the stomach, but so acted upon that 

 a microscope was necessary in order to acertain its 

 nature ; and then it was found to consist of various 

 small entomostracous Crustacea, with the remains of 

 small worms, beetles and flies, showing that these 

 fishes are not at least confined to one species of food. 

 The Crustacea are swimmers, and probably so are the 

 beetles alluded to ; and therefore the vendace may, 

 like most of the lacustrine species of the genus, find 

 their food while they swim in the water, without 



