Identifier: britishreptilesa00west Title: British reptiles, amphibians, and fresh-water fishes Year: 1920 (1920s) Authors: Westell, W. Percival (William Percival), 1874-1937 Subjects: Reptiles Amphibians Freshwater fishes Publisher: [London] : Chapman & Dodd Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: , orred. They also vary in shape and size. The dorsal finis often spotted, as well as the body. The Trout has afine array of small sharp teeth. Char. (Fig. 37).—As has been mentioned in the intro-ductory notes to the third section of this volume, no lessthan 15 so-called species of Char are claimed as Britishfishes. Most of these occur in deep and cold mountain lakes in Great Britain and Ireland, and it is quite im-F ri BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES possible to do more than refer the enquirer desirous offollowing up the matter to a more elaborate work thanthis can hope to be. This is not the time or opportunityto discuss the merits, or demerits, of these differentreputed species. Char belong to the Genus Salvelinus^and there are structural differences that mark them offfrom their relatives, the Salmon and Trout. Char, too,have smaller scales, red spots instead of black, brown, orred, and the name itself—Char—is indicative of thepredominating colour below, as the word comes from the

Text Appearing After Image: Celtic ceaVy meaning blood, or ceara, meaning red.Their distribution, and the reason for their presence inseveral isolated sheets of water situate at high altitudes,is as fascinating as a fairy tale, and will amply repayfollowing up. We must not, however, be tempted todigress. Three pounds seems to be about the maxi-mum weight attained in British waters. Spawning takesplace from Autumn to Spring, a gravel bed beingselected where the water is not deep. Perhaps thefour most distinct species (if such they be) are the following :—72 CHAR AND GRAYLING 1. Torgoch, or Welsh Char {Salvelinus perisii), (Various Lakes in North Wales.) 2. Haddy, or Killin Char (5. killinensis). (Loch Killin, Inverness-shire.) 3. Shetland Char {S. gracilUmus). (Loch Girlsta, near Lerwick, Shetland Isles.) 4. Grays Char {S. grayi), (Lough Melvin, Fer- managh, Ireland.) Lydekker says that * in the spawning-season the upperparts of this fish are brownish-green, and the sideslighter ; the under surface passing thro

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