CHAPTER XXX. 



THE CHARRS. 



I HEAD this chapter as above, because some preliminary observations are 

 necessary in order to inform the general reader of the present state of 

 knowledge in connection with the fish called charr. A great deal of 

 obscurity hangs over this member of the great Salmonidce family (Milton 

 has chosen to render it a subsidiary, terming the charr of salvelini not 

 salmo), and, as a result, every ichthyological authority has more or less 

 differed from his predecessors or contemporaries. A fish of this name has 

 been mentioned by Willoughby, and he, regarding the differences which 

 appeared in the specimens under his observation, divided the charrs into 

 two species viz., the red-bellied charr and the gilt charr. Ray, a most 

 learned writer, in his " Synopsis Piscium " remarks in the " Itinerary," 

 anent one of these fishes : "At Llanberis, Bettew, Festiniog, there is a 

 fish taken called Torgoch, blackish upon the back, red under the belly 

 from which it obtains its name and of which they tell some fabulous 

 stories : as that three sons of the Church brought them from Eome and 

 put them into three lakes to wit, Llanberis, Llynumber, and Trevennyn, 

 into each two. They were taken in each lake, but only at one time of 

 the year, and at a different time in the several lakes. At Llanberis they 

 say they are only taken in the night, and that when it is not moonlight." 

 This latter circumstance, Couch adds, " might have caused a doubt 

 whether the fish of that lake might not be a different species from some of 

 the others, as, indeed, has since been shown to be the case, although it 

 may be remarked that more than one species may inhabit the same piece 

 of water, and then, of course, the actions of each may be supposed to vary 

 as concerns the time of their appearance and capture." 



It appears to be certain that the gilt charr is only a barren individual 

 of the species. The gilt charr is indubitably but another name for the 

 same fish, and the supposition that the name is derived from a golden tint 

 is erroneous. No such tint has ever been noticed. 



