CHAPTER XXXII. 



THE GWYNIAD. 



ME. BTJCKLAND gives the specific name of this fish as Cregonus fera, and 

 intimates that, though for many years he had received eggs from the 

 Huningtte establishment of fish culture, he had, nevertheless, been 

 unable to rear the fish by artificial means. Couch figures the fish most 

 beautifully, and gives eight different specific names from eight different 

 naturalists' writings. That adopted in the British Museum Catalogue is 

 the one I prefer, as being most authoritative moreover Cregonus 

 Penncvntii. 



If confusion has hitherto existed in the case of the charrs, it has in 

 degree been transcended by the muddle into which writers have fallen in 

 connection with the identity of the gwyniad or guiniad (the word is of 

 Welsh origin, signifying white, silvery, I believe) . Yarrell says, " Some 

 authors have considered the vendace of Lochnaben as the same with the 

 powan of Perthshire, the schilly of Cumberland, the gwyniad of Wales, 

 and the pollan of Ireland ; ' ' and Couch remarks on the name gwyniad, 

 "Like all names which are simply descriptive, this has been applied to 

 other species .... especially to the sewin, and especially to the 

 younger conditions of the common salmon, from all of which the real 

 gwiniad may be easily distinguished." Pennant, like Mr. Buckland, 

 considered the gwyniad of our isles identical with the fera of Lake 

 Geneva ; but Willoughby must be credited with having distinctly shown 

 this to be erroneous. 



According to Mr. Buckland (who, however, says, " I do not know 

 much about it "), the gwyniad is found in the isle of Bute, and by other 

 writers it is stated to be known over a large portion of the Alpine or ele- 

 vated districts of the Continent. In Britain its distribution is very cir. 

 cumscribed, even more so than the grayling. Where, however, it does 

 xist, it is found in large quantities, and, according to Couch, this is 



