GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 261 



has led to the assumption of peculiarities which 

 enable them to be recognized as distinct. 



The only species or races of freshwater fishes 

 peculiar to the British Isles have had a similar history ; 

 they are the Char (Salvelinus) and Whitefish (Core- 

 gonus], fishes of the Salmon family. In our islands, 

 as in Scandinavia and in the Alps, Char are now 

 isolated in various lakes, and never go to the sea, but 

 these lacustrine forms of Char are closely related to 

 anadromous Arctic species ; our Whitefish also are 

 allied to northern migratory species. There can be 

 little doubt that the Char and Whitefish reached the 

 lakes which they now inhabit from the sea when the 

 climate was colder, as we know it must have been in 

 comparatively recent times, and that during their 

 long isolation they have evolved in various directions, 

 and at varying rates according to circumstances, so 

 that several distinct forms may now be recognized. 



The following list includes the 



FRESHWATER FISHES PECULIAR TO THE 

 BRITISH ISLES 



Species Distribution 



1. Windermere Char (Salve- Windermere, Coniston, Wast 



linus willughbii, Gthr.). Water, Ennerdale, Crum. 



mock Water, etc., also 

 represented by very similar 

 forms in many Scottish 

 lakes. 



2. Torgoch or Welsh Char Lakes of Llanberis and some 



(S.perisii, Gthr.). other lakes in Carnarvon- 



shire and Merionethshire. 



3. Lonsdale's Char (S. Ions- Haweswater, Westmorland. 



dalii, Regan). 



4. Struan (S. struanensis, Loch Rannoch, Perthshire, 



Maitland), 



