THE CHAR. 
161 
cies, and when in equally high condition, to he in one lake herring-like, and in 
another approximating to the roundness of the eel. So manifold are the differ- 
ences presented by the char now before me from various localities, that it would 
he tedious and perhaps useless to point them out in every case, and consequent- 
ly this will only be attempted when they are remarkably striking, or particularly 
demand attention. 
“ Oct. 25, 1836. — Through the kind attention of Captain Fayrer, It. N., I to- 
day received two specimens of char from Loch Grannoch, Kircudbrightshire. 
On comparing them critically with the detailed descriptions of our British char 
given by Yarrell and Jenyns, they were found to be both their species, and 
likewise the S. alpinus and S. Salvelinus of Donovan’s British Fishes.* On 
thus finding that a small loch produced the two supposed species, and that the 
examples were of different sexes, I endeavoured to procure a number of indivi- 
duals for the purpose of ascertaining if the difference were sexual ; but this fish 
is taken during so short a period, that in this object I was disappointed for that 
year. In a letter upon the subject from James Stewart, Esq., of Cairnsmere, 
Newtown-Stewart (Wigtonshire), to Capt. Fayrer, dated Nov. 1, 1836, it was 
obsei'ved — ‘ I lost no time in despatching my men early yesterday morning to 
Loch Grannoch, though 1 must confess with very slight hopes of success in the 
object of their pursuit. The char are never found in our lakes before about the 
13th October, and in ten days again they disappear — the whole produce of the 
day’s exertions amounted only to four very small fish.’ These were not con- 
sidered worth sending forward. The object of the inquiry being made known to 
this gentleman, he at the same time remarked — 4 If my evidence is worth any- 
thing, I can give it with great confidence as to the red char [$. Salvelinus, 
Don.] being the male, and the gray the female [S. alpinus , Don.] of the same 
species. I have noticed them frequently, when taken out of the water, eject 
the milt and roe, and never saw the former from a gray, or the latter from a 
red fish.’ I subsequently availed myself of Mr. Stewart’s kindness in offering 
to procure specimens. On the 17th of October, 1838, ‘a dozen of the red and 
the same number of the gray fish,’ caught late that day in Loch Grannoch, were 
sent me by this gentleman, and being packed with great care, reached Belfast 
in excellent condition for examination on the morning of the 20th — the follow- 
ing observations were then made upon them. 
“ These two dozen specimens — of the full size produced in this lake — are all 
from 7 to 8 inches in length, and the females generally somewhat shorter than 
the males. The difference in form between the sexes (as proved by dissection) , 
both generally and particularly, is very great. The dorsal and ventral profile 
of the male fish are alike, the slope being similar from head to tail above and 
below; the female has the dorsal line much straighter, and the ventral much 
more convex, than the male — a difference to be expected at the spawning season, 
and which would be less conspicuous at other times. The lower jaw of some of 
the males is slightly turned up and hooked ; the head in this sex is very much 
larger in every part than in the female, and the size of the fins is much greater. 
The males, though differing in intensity of colour, may be described as lilac- 
black or dusky, relieved by a lilac tinge on the uppermost third of the body, 
viewed lengthwise, from the dorsal ridge, becoming .however gradually paler 
from this part ; the middle of the sides is lilac-gray, beautifully and somewhat 
closely marked with round scarlet spots about a line in diameter ; the lowest 
portion of the sides is of a salmon-coloured scarlet without spots. The head 
and the dorsal fin are dusky, with a lilac tinge ; the pectorals dusky above, 
tinged with scarlet beneath where they rest upon the part of the body which is 
of this colour ; the ventrals are bright scarlet, with occasionally a dusky longi- 
tudinal band inside the margin, which is white ; the anal fin dusky, tinged with 
* At the Meeting of the British Association held at Newcastle in 1838, the 
two examples from Loch Grannoch were shown to my friends Mr. Yarrell and 
Mr. Jenyns, both of whom looked upon them as representing their two species. 
M 
