253 
THE CHARS, 
There are few British fishes over which so much obscuritj 
has hung as those which bear the name of Char; nor has the 
difficulty of determining the species for practical purposes 
even now been more than partially removed. A fish of this 
name is mentioned by Willoughby, who regarded the differences 
which he perceived between examples that came within his 
notice as being characteristic of two species, and these he 
called by the names they bore among the fishermen, as Torgoch 
or the Red-bellied Char, and the Gelt Char. In this again 
he is followed by his editor and friend the learned Ray, in 
his “Synopsis Piscium,” who also remarks in his “Itinerary” 
concerning one of these fishes, “At Llanberis, Bettew, Festiniog, 
there is a fish taken called Torgoch, blackish upon the back, 
red under the belly — from which it obtains its name — and of 
which they tell some fabulous stories; as that three sons of 
the church brought them from Rome, and put them into three 
lakes, to wit, Llanberis, Llynumber, and Trevennyn, into each 
two. They were taken in each lake, but only at one time 
of the year, and at a different time in the several lakes. At 
Llanberis they say that they are taken only in the night, and 
that when it is not moonlight;” which circumstance, we may 
add, in regard to their habits, might have raised a doubt 
whether the fish of that lake might not be a different species 
from some of the others, as indeed has since been shewn to 
be the case; although it must also be remarked that more than 
one species may inhabit the same piece of water, and then 
of course the actions of each may be supposed to vary as 
concerns the time of their appearance and capture. But as 
regards the particular points of difference between the fishes 
they mention, both of these excellent naturalists appear to 
have been in some degree mistaken, since it seems certain 
that the fish usually termed the Gelt Char is only an individual 
which, as the word is intended to signify, is barren — at least 
