CHAR 109 



THE BLUNT-SNOUTED IRISH CHAR (Salvelinus 

 obtusus] is known from Loughs Luggala and Dan in 

 Wicklow, and Killarney and Acoose in Kerry. It 

 is distinguished from other Irish Char by the short, 

 blunt snout and the rounded lower jaw, which is 

 included within the upper when the mouth is closed ; 

 in most other characters it agrees with Cole's Char, 

 but has the interorbital region narrower and flatter, 

 its width being contained three and one-third (adult) 

 to three and three-fourth times (young) in the 

 length of the head, whilst the anal fin is usually 

 longer. 



This species attains a length of 8 inches, and a 

 male specimen of that size from Killarney is figured 

 (PL XIV, Fig. 2). It is not unlike the Struan (S. 

 struanensis] of Loch Rannoch ; on comparison I find 

 that it differs especially in the shorter head, always 

 less than one-fourth of the length of the fish and the 

 narrower but longer maxillary, which in males of 8 

 inches reaches the vertical from the posterior edge 

 of the eye, and measures two-fifths the length of 

 the head ; also the scales are usually larger, number- 

 ing 142 to 1 66 in a longitudinal series, and the 

 dorsal fin is lower, the longest ray measuring two- 

 thirds the length of the head or less. 



Char are said to occur, or to have occurred, in 

 several lakes in Kerry, Cork, and Waterford, which 

 will probably prove in some cases to contain Salve- 

 linus obtiisus. Smith, in his History of Waterford, 

 quoted by Thompson, wrote : " In these mountains 

 [Cummeragh] are four considerable loughs, two of 

 which are called by the Irish Cummeloughs and the 

 other two Stilloges, the largest of which contains 

 about five or six acres. In these loughs are several 



