292 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



salvelin from a specimen captured near the Austrian town of Linz. 

 Therefore, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the Linnean denomi- 

 nation is intended for the South German fish, which, up to the present 

 day, is called Salbling at various localities. 



Salmo umbla. Linnaeus has founded this species on the ninth species 

 of salmo in Artedi's " Genera," or on the seventh in his " Synonymy," 

 the latter ichthyologist following Eondolet, who described the Salmo 

 lemani lacus, sew umbla, as the Ombre (chevalier) of the Lakes of 

 Geneva and Neuchatel. Jenyns and Agassiz have given figures of this 

 fish. Far superior to these is that published by Rapp, who has identi- 

 fied the Eothel of the Lake of Constance with the Salmo umbla, L. 



This species never assumes the red colours of the S. salvelinus, or of 

 the charrs of Windermere or of Wales. It could be compared in this 

 respect only with the "fresh- water herring" of Lough Melvin, from which 

 it is readily distinguished by its much larger teeth, by its wide mouth, 

 the maxillary extending to behind the orbit, by its much more elongated 

 body, and by the proportions of its fins. Salmo umbla of Linne differs 

 from the British charrs in nearly every one of the external characters, 

 and agrees with the Irish species only in its plainer coloration and in the 

 size of its scales. 



Salmo alpinus. Linnaeus, on his tour through Lapland, discovered 

 in the mountain lakes of that country a species of charr which he de. 

 scribed in the " Fauna Lapponica," p. 117, No. 310, and which he named 

 8. alpinus in the " Systema Naturae." He adopts the opinion of Artedi 

 in referring to the British charr (which he knew from Willoughby's 

 description) as a synonym to this S. alpinus. Even the few details which 

 are given in his and Nilsson's descriptions do not admit of an identification 

 of those species. Linne says that the length of the head of the typical 

 specimen was iin., and the distance from (the front margin of) the dorsal 

 to the adipose fin Sin. In the British charr the head is much longer. He 

 found the length of the head equal to that of the base of the dorsal fin ; 

 in British charrs the base of that fin is much shorter. Nilsson describes 

 the S. alpinus (L.) as a distinct variety of S. salvelinus, distinguished by 

 short fins, but S. salveUnus (Nilsson) has shorter fins than any of the 

 British charrs. 



We are, therefore, not justified in admitting one of those Linnean 

 denominations for the British species, which will be described in this 

 chapter. This view being in contradiction with that of all former writers, 

 I think it necessary to give an historical review of what has been done 

 on the s abject. 



In 1685 Willoughby was the first who, with the practised eye of an 

 ichthyologist, examined the charrs of England and Wales, devoting a 



