440 Mr. W. Thompson’s Notes on British Char. 
The chief object of my inquiry was to learn whether, in the 
lakes of Ireland and of those in Scotland* from which I could 
procure specimens, the S. Salvelinus, Don, was to be found ; 
and at the same time to ascertain, at least for my own satis- 
faction, whether its characters have sufficient permanency to 
entitle it to rank as a distinct species. As they are merely 
crude unfinished notes that are to follow, I shall here give the 
result of the investigation, that the reader may be in posses- 
sion of it without entering into the details. In a fresh state 
I have had the opportunity of examining Char from three lo- 
calities— Windermere (England), Lough Melvin (Ireland), and 
Loch Grannoch (Scotland); and either in spirits or preserved 
dry, from nine other lakes in Ireland and Scotland. The ex- 
amination of these examples leads me to believe that the S. Um- 
bla, Linn., and S. Salvelinus, Don, are but one species; one 
however that, like the Salmo Fario, is subject to extraordin 
variety. In one lake the male fish can at a glance be distin- 
guished from the female either by colour or by the many cha- 
racters which are comprised under “form.” In another, so 
similar are the sexes in every external character, that without 
the aid of dissection they cannot be determined. In size we 
find the species ordinarily attain twice the length and several 
times the weight} in one lake that it does in another, although 
the area of their waters is of similar extent ; indeed, in some 
of the largest lakes, this fish will be found not to attain near 
the size it does in some others which are but as pools in com- 
parison—there are, however, various influences which account 
satisfactorily for such differences. In the form of the body 
again we find the species, and when in equally high condition, 
to be in one lake herring-like, and in another approximating 
the roundness of the Eel. So manifold are the differences 
presented by the Char now before me from various localities, 
that it would be tedious and perhaps useless to point them 
out in every case, and consequently this will only be attempt- 
ed when they are remarkably striking, or particularly demand 
attention. 
Oct. 25, 1836.—Through the kind attention of Captain 
Fayrer, R.N., I today received two specimens of Char from 
Loch Grannoch, Kircudbrightshire. On comparing them 
critically with the detailed descriptions of our British Char 
given by Yarrell and Jenyns, they were found to be both their 
* The fine work of Sir Wm. Jardine on the Scottish Salmonide was not 
at the time announced. 
+ That the quantity of ova produced will vary accordingly, is illustrated 
by the difference between the number found in the Loch Grannoch and the 
Lough Melvin fish. 
