FISHES 517 



VENDACE. 



Goregonus vandesius, Rich. 



The earliest reference to this species inhabiting our faunal 

 area appears to be that furnished in a note which Housman 

 wrote for Hutchinson's History of Cumberland. This note was 

 published in 1794, or shortly after. 1 Speaking of Bassen- 

 thwaite, Housman observes : ' The Lake . . . has perch, pike, 

 vendesses, trout, eel, and salmon, in the spawning season.' He 

 was evidently aware of the interest attaching to this species, 

 because the word ' vendesses ' is the only word italicised in the 

 paragraph. Whether the species had been artificially introduced, 

 I do not know, but the fact that it is confined to Derwentwater 

 and Bassenthwaite rather supports the view, especially since 

 these two lakes have direct communication with one another. 

 The Vendace has rarely been taken in either lake within living 

 memory. As long ago as 1856, Dr. Davy described the capture 

 of a Vendace as being ' the purest accident, not because it is so 

 rare, but because it is contrary to the habits of this fish to take 

 the fly or any of the baits commonly used here in angling. I 

 have heard of one instance only of its having been taken with 

 the artificial fly, and that by an old fisherman of long experience, 

 and likewise of only one of its having been captured with the 

 worm. ... In this Lake [Derwentwater], within the last eight 

 years [1848-1856] a good many have been taken with the net, 

 and many also in the same way in Bassenthwaite Lake. That 

 it is not a scarce fish here may, I think, be inferred from the 

 circumstance of two lately having been killed by a stroke of 

 an oar ; and that the fish is a true Vendace I am satisfied, 

 having compared a specimen from Lochmaben with one from 

 Derwentwater, and also with one from Bassenthwaite Lake, and 

 found them similar. The two first-mentioned I can show you 

 at home; the last you may see at the Museum at Keswick, 

 which is worthy of a visit on other accounts.' 2 There are 

 now several local specimens of Vendace in the Keswick Museum. 

 Mr. Birkett tells me that these were found floating dead upon 



1 History of Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 237. 

 The Angler in the Lake District, p. 262. 



