44 DR. A. GTJNTHER ON THE BRITISH CHARRS. [Feb. 11, 



cover produced behind into a rounded lobe, the axillary scale nearly 

 half as long as the ventrals, the fourteen dorsal rays," are characters 

 which tend to show that a species was examined different from that 

 of the Lake of Windermere, and closely approaching the Llanberris 

 Torgoch, although I should not venture to identify it with the latter. 



Mr. Jenyns describes his second species as the Torgoch, and calls 

 it S. salvelinus. If unfortunately the specimens from which this se- 

 cond description was taken had been lost, everybody, like Parnell, 

 would have been at a loss to reconcile it with any of the Charrs known. 

 " The dorsal fin is exactly in the middle of the entire length ; the 

 body is not so much elongated in proportion to its depth ; posterior 

 portion of the dorsal very little les^ elevated than the anterior," &c. 

 Such are the characters attributed to the Torgoch ; but they are not 

 in accordance with the typical specimens, which are still preserved 

 and now in the British Museum. They, indeed, are identical with 

 the Llanberris species, the proper characters of which may be found 

 in the detailed description subjoined to this paper. 



1838. If Parnell's description* has been taken from a Scotch 

 specimen, it is the only one which has been 'drawn up of the so- 

 called Northern Charr ; but much is detracted from its value when 

 we consider that the author preserved his specimens as flat skins ; 

 therefore his statement, that the height of the body of a specimen 

 1 b\ inches long was equal to the length of the head, and one-sixth 

 of the total, does not express a peculiarity of the Northern Charr : 

 but this elongate form of the body was probably caused by the way 

 of preservation. Parnell's other observations on the Charr are bor- 

 rowed from other authors, who had made their observations chiefly 

 on English and Welsh specimens. 



1840. The view of Agassiz was essentially supported by the late 

 W.Thompson of Belfast, who, having had opportunity of examining 

 the Charrs of Windermere, Loch Grannoch, Lough Melvin, and of 

 nine other lakes in Scotland and Ireland, came to the conclusion 

 that they are but one species — one, however, that is subject to extra- 

 ordinary variety f. 



But Mr. Thompson has not brought forward any other proof for 

 this assertion, than the other assertion that the differences presented 

 by the Charr from various localities are very manifold. The following 

 appeared to him the most striking differences : — 



1 . In specimens from Loch Grannoch the male fish has the colours 

 of S. salvelinus, Donov. ; the female those of /S. alpinus, Donor. 

 The male has a much larger head and larger fins than the female. 

 Number of ova, 500. 



2. In specimens from Lough Melvin both sexes are coloured 

 alike ; nor can they be distinguished from each other by the size of 

 the fins. Number of ova, 959. 



The differences observed in the Charrs from the other localities 

 are not pointed out. Certainly, if Mr. Thompson had really seen 

 those in the size of the scales and of the teeth, he would have men- 



* Fishes of the Ph-th of Forth, p. 148 {S. umbla). 

 t Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1840, vi, p. 439. 



