ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 193 



roborate many of liis remarks. As he says, they 

 vary so much in colour in different waters, that it 

 is hard to distinguish the male from the female. 

 In both these lakes there was no difficulty at all 

 in the matter. Bloch's figure of the Salmo salve- 

 linns is not bad, but his spots are too dark. 

 This is clearly a male fish ; and his figure of the 

 8. alpinus well represents our female fish. And 

 we took some quite grey, without spots, exactly 

 like his figure of the 8. limata. Not a single one 

 of the large fish that we caught exhibited in the 

 slightest degree any transverse markings along 

 the sides, like the parr ; but in every young fish 

 from four to six ounces they were very conspicuous. 

 It seems, according to Thompson, that in some of 

 the Irish lakes the charr only appear about the 

 middle of October, and are then seen but for ten 

 days or so. I fancy, by his account, they are then 

 supposed to leave the lake ; but, in my opinion, 

 this is just the time they come on the shallows to 

 spawn, and directly that is over they draw back 

 again to the deeps ; at least such is the case in 

 our lakes. And they never leave the lake; for 

 although trout are always taken in the tributary 

 streams when there is a fresh of water, never has 

 a single charr been taken, except in the lake. The 

 charr spawn here in the end of October, and the 

 best fishing is from the time the birch leaves 



o 



