516 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



harvest months, rippling the surface of the water, and are called 

 Schools or (in the country dialect) Skyuls, of Skellies. When 

 they lye in water not too deep, vast numbers are taken at one 

 draught, sometimes ten or twelve thousands. Sometimes the 

 Schools lye so close together, and the fishermen take such 

 numbers, that carts are employed to carry them to the adjacent 

 market towns. They weigh about five ounces each, and 800 are 

 commonly reckoned as many as one horse can draw ; they are at 

 these times extremely cheap, generally a penny a pound ; but I 

 have seen two Winchester pecks of them sold for a shilling. . . . 

 The Skellies spawn in the winter among the mud at the bottom 

 of the Lake.' l The old people with whom I have conversed, whose 

 lives have been spent beside the Lake, independently volunteered 

 statements very similar to that of Clarke. Every one agrees 

 that of late years this fish has become extremely scarce in 

 Ulleswater, although a few are occasionally caught in the trout 

 nets. It is interesting to notice that this fish occasionally quits the 

 Lake and enters the Eamont, as remarked by Dr. Heysham, who 

 added, ' now and then a solitary one is taken [in the Eden] 

 below the bay at Armathwaite.' On the 2d of April this year 

 [1892] Mr. Tullie brought to me an example of this fish, that its 

 identity might be solved. It had been picked up dead on the 

 edge of Burgh marsh, having been washed down thither by 

 the waters of the Eden. It was in poor condition, and much 

 diseased, but about its identity there could be no doubt. 

 Dr. Day remarks that this species is found 'in Red Tarn on 

 Helvellyn,' on the authority of Braithwaite. ' The late Professor 

 Rolleston/ he says, ' gave me some examples which he collected 

 at Haweswater, and informed me that in the early spring some 

 came to the surface with the stomach everted, due to expansion 

 of the air-bladder/ 2 The Rev. T. Hodson tells me that this 

 fish is still abundant in Haweswater, where its numbers have 

 not suffered the diminution noticed at Ulleswater. Although 

 this fish is procured with nets almost exclusively, Mr. Hodson 

 tells me that he recently caught a fine specimen with a fly. 

 This occurred at Haweswater. 



1 Survey of the Lakes, p. 38. 



2 British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 127. 



