204 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



convex, its width being less than twice the diameter of the 

 eye. Jaws of the male of equal length anteriorly ; teeth of 

 moderate strength, four in each intermaxillary, twenty in 

 each maxillary. Length of the pectoral less than that of the 

 head, much more than half the distance between its root and 

 that of the ventral ; the base of the pectoral is entirely free, 

 and not overlapped by the 8.ill-corer apparatus ; the nostrils 

 are situated immediately before the eye ; the posterior is the 

 wider, and the cutajieous bridge between the two is not 

 developed into a flap. 



" The scales are thin and small, those on the back rudi- 

 mentary and hidden in the skin. The colour on the sides of 

 the back is a dark sea-green, passing into blackish on the 

 back on the greater part of the dorsal and caudal. Sides 

 with a slight silvery shade, passing into a beautiful deep red 

 on the belly. Pectoral greenish, passing into reddish 

 posteriorly, the upper margin being white ; ventral red, with 

 white outer margin, and with a blackish shade within the 

 margin ; anal reddish, with a blackish shade over the whole 

 of the middle, and with white anterior margin ; sides of the 

 head silvery, lower parts minutely dotted with black." 



I may remark that the white margins of the 

 pectoral, anal, and ventral fins are very conspicuous 

 in living specimens of these char as seen when 

 swimming in the water. 



Whether the Windermere char is indigenous to 

 the district, or whether it is a naturalised alien, is 

 uncertain. As, however, there is no proof of its 

 having been introduced, it may fairly be considered 

 as indigenous. 



Among the first to mention the char as occurring 

 in the Lake District is Sir Daniel Fleming (circa 

 J 655); and it is somewhat curious that the 

 references in the Rydal Household-book almost all 

 refer to char from Coniston when one would have 

 thought that the fish would have been more 

 conveniently procured from Windermere. The 

 Flemings, however, have always owned a fishery in 



