538 A New Charr from British Columbia. 



A NEW CHARR* FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



BY JOHN KEAST LOED, F.Z.Swj 



Naturalist to the North. American Boundary Commission ; Author of " The 

 Naturalist in Vancouver's Island and British Columbia." 



Sp. Ch. — Scales minute. Head and body rather com- 

 pressed ; the height of the head equals the length of the head, 

 and is two-ninths of the total (without caudal) ; the length of 

 the head is one-half the distance between the snout and the 

 vertical from the origin of the dorsal fin. Snout very obtuse, 

 scarcely longer than the diameter of the eye, which is three- 

 fourths of the width of the interorbital space. The lower jaw 

 is a little shorter than the upper; maxillary of moderate length, 

 scarcely reaching to the vertical from the margin of the orbit. 

 Teeth of moderate strength ; those along the medium line of 

 the hyoid are very small. Prse operculum with a very distinct 

 lower limb. Fins rather small; the length of the pectoral is 

 less than that of the head (without snout), or one-half of the 

 distance of its root from the ventrals ; caudal fin slightly 

 emarginate. Back and sides reddish olive ; sides with nume- 

 rous round light-coloured spots. Belly whitish powdered 

 with reddish olive ; paired fins and anal colourless ; caudal 

 immaculate. Pyloric appendages very long and wide. 



" This is one of the smallest species of charr, both our 

 specimens having the abdomen filled with mature ova." 



It would be of no practical use to give a lengthy description 

 of the specific differences which separates the charr from the 

 rest of the Salmonidce. The charr we are familiar with, as 

 tenanting British waters, are as a rule resident in deep lakes. 

 Yarrell, in his B^istory of British Fishes, vol. ii., p. 125, tells us 

 " The charr generally inhabit the deepest parts of those lakes, 

 in which they are found, and afford but little amusement to 

 the angler.''-' The charr are very seldom known to wander 

 into any of the streams, by which these lakes are either sup- 

 plied or drained, except at the season of spawning, and their 

 decided partiality for clear water and a hard bottom is then 

 very conspicuous. The spawning season i3 in November and 

 December. 



I must ask my readers to forget for a short time the beautiful 

 lake scenery we are all so justly proud of, to leave the haunts 

 of the British charr (with which, if the reader is a disciple of 

 the "gentle art," he is pretty sure to be familiar), and to visit 

 with me, in imagination, its near relative, a dweller in the 



* Fario Zorclii, Nov. Sp., Gunther, Brit. Mus. Catalogue of Fishes, vol. vi., 

 p. 148. 



