CHAR 



107 



the snout is more acutely conical, the mouth smaller 

 and more oblique, etc., and in the smaller scales, 

 which number 186 in a longitudinal series. It is a 

 silvery fish, with the back bluish grey. 



In 1851 Thompson was informed that Char were 

 common in Lough Owel. Mr. Black, a gamekeeper, 

 had seen sixty to seventy dozen taken in a draught- 

 net in the summer, and in June he had seen two 

 dozen taken in a day with the natural and artificial 

 fly, particularly the former, the " green drake " being 



FIG. 12. Head of Scharffs Char. 



the favourite ; in these cases the fly was sunk three 

 or four feet beneath the surface. For a few suc- 

 cessive years not a Char would be taken in the lake, 

 and then they would again appear to be as numerous 

 as ever. Mr. Black described them as " very round 

 in the body," and this applies well to the specimen 

 now in the Dublin Museum ; he gave the usual 

 weight as ij to 2 Ibs., but thought he had seen 

 some of 3 Ibs. 



Char have been recorded from Loughs Ennel and 

 Belvidere in Westmeath, Eaghish in Monaghan, 



