362 THE ANGLEE-NATURALIST. 



The species of the genus Coregonus are numerous in 

 Europe ; and several of them are so similar to each other, 

 that, without further information than we at present pos- 

 sess, and in the absence of any means of making actual 

 comparison between British and foreign specimens, it has 

 been found impossible to pronounce with certainty in re- 

 gard to their identity *. 



Ullswater and several others amongst the Cumberland 

 lakes contain great numbers of the Gwyniad, which in 

 this vicinity goes by the name of Schelly, on account of 

 its large scales. It occurs also abundantly in the neigh- 

 bouring lake of Haweswater, and is in all probability the 

 Coregonus which is known to inhabit the Red Tarn, a 

 small sheet of water near the summit of Helvellyn, elevated 

 more than 2600 feet above the sea-level. Llyn Tegid, near 

 Bala, was also at one time plentifully stocked with Gwy- 

 niad ; but the introduction of Pike into the lake has, it is 

 supposed, materially reduced their numbers of late years. 



The Gwyniad are gregarious, and in spring and summer 

 approach the shore in immense shoals, when many hun- 



* Some authors have even asserted the Vendace of Lochmaben to 

 be identical with the Powan of Perthshire, the Schelly of Ullswater, 

 the Gwyniad of Wales, and the Pollan of Ireland ; but, upon a com- 

 parison of the specific characteristics, the incorrectness of this opinion 

 is at once apparent. The Irish Pollan is certainly distinct from the 

 two species of Coregoni found in the sister island. Pennant con- 

 sidered the Grwyniad as identical with the Coregonus fera of the Lake 

 of Geneva, an opinion held also by Willughby, but which has been 

 clearly shown by Valenciennes to be erroneous. Neither is the 

 ( iwyniad the Lavaret of Switzerland. 



