148 DE. EMBLETON ON THE VEND ACE. 



Mary, Queen of Scots, and says, that " as in her time the Scotch 

 court was much frenchified, it seems likely that its name was 

 derived from the French vencloise, a dace, to which a slight ob- 

 server might be tempted to compare it from the whiteness of its 

 scales. The British name, Gwiniad, or Whiting, was bestowed 

 on it for the same reason." 



The name Yendace is however of uncertain origin : some de- 

 rive it, as Mr. Atkinson informs me, from La Yendee, whence 

 they suppose the fish to have been brought. 



The Yendace was first distinguished as a species by Jardine, 

 and then separated from the Gwiniad, the Skelly, the Pollan, 

 and the Powan by Yarrell* and by Couch, f both of whom de- 

 scribed and figured it. The figure by Couch is preferable to 

 that by Yarrell, which is said by Couch, and, judging by the 

 specimens before us, correctly, to be too slender. 



Further on, reason will be given for dissenting from the opi- 

 nions of these two Naturalists that the above-named fishes are 

 specifically distinct. 



Mlsson says it inhabits most of the rivers and lakes of the 

 middle and north of Sweden. 



Dr. Kobert Knox, J in his Essay " On the Salmon, Herring, 

 and Yendace," first showed that the food of the Yendace con- 

 sists of the several species of Entomostraca (Lyncei, Cyclops, etc.) 

 which are abundant in the lochs at and near Lochmaben. 



As to its habits, it swims quickly, in large shoals, like the 

 Herring and similar fish, retiring to the depths of the lakes in 

 warm and clear weather. The males are much less numerous 

 than the females, the proportion being as one to twelve in the 

 middle of December (Knox) : on other occasions it has been 

 found to be as two to forty, and as six to nine (Zoologist, June, 

 1855). The males are smaller than the females. It breeds 

 rapidly, spawning about the middle of November (Jardine), in 

 mid-winter (Knox). 



Dr. Knox states that ' ' it yields in delicacy as an article of 

 food to no other fish that I am acquainted with." 



* Hist, of British Fishes, 1836, Vol. II. 



t Hist, of the Fishes of the Brit. Islands, 1856, Vol. IV. 



% Trans. Roy. Soc., Edinb., Vol XII. 



