HABITS OF THE CAEP. 621 



reality, through careless selection or ignorance, are hybrids which may even have been cultivated 

 for two or three generations. In some ponds in Switzerland, near the lake of Constance, some 

 crosses of Abramis brama were found as late as twenty years ago. 



HABITS. The Carp is partial to stagnant waters, or such as have a not too swift current, with 

 a loamy, muddy bottom and deep places covered with vegetation. It inhabits now most of the 

 larger and smaller rivers of Europe, particularly the Elbe, Weser, Rhine, Danube, Po, Rhone, 

 Garonne, Loire, then the Bavarian and Swiss lakes, the lake of Constance, etc. ; even salt water 

 seems to agree with it very well. I have taken it in the Black Sea, where its weight often amounts 

 to from fifteen to twenty pounds. It is also found in the Caspian Sea in great numbers, and is 

 known there by the name of Sassan. 



It is an advantage that the Carp is able to live in water where other fishes could not possibly 

 exist; for instance, in the pools of bog meadows or sloughs. However, it is not by any means to 

 be inferred from this that the best locality for carp ponds of a superior kind could be in such sit- 

 uations. The presence of too much humic acid is unfavorable to the well-being of the Carp, as we 

 shall see presently in the chapter upon the establishing of fish-ponds. 1 



The Carp lives upon vegetable food as well as upon worms and larvae of aquatic insects, which 

 it turns up from the mud with the head. It is very easily satisfied, and will not refuse the offal of 

 the kitchen, slaughter-houses, and breweries, or even the excrement of cattle and pigs. I propose 

 tof enter further upon the subject of feeding it when I speak of its culture in ponds. 



In the moderate zone, that is to say in Central Europe, the Carp will, at the beginning of the 

 cold season, seek deeper water to pass that period in a kind of sleep. This will sometimes occur 

 as early as the beginning of November, if the winter should set in early; and it is to be remarked 

 that they will retire at an earlier period in ponds than in rivers. They do so always in groups of 

 from fifty to one hundred and more. They make a cavity in the muddy ground, called a il kettle"; 

 in this they pass the time until spring, huddled together in concentric circles with their heads 

 together, the posterior part of the body raised and held immovably, scarcely lifting the gills for 

 the process of breathing, and without taking a particle of food. They do not take any food from 

 the beginning of October, and continue to abstain from it, in some countries, until the end of 

 March, and in colder districts even somewhat later. It will not answer, however, to depend on 

 this habit when transporting them for propagation in the spring or winter time, more especially 

 young Carp one or two years old. The fish will arrive in a worn and hungry condition, and must 

 be kept in a tank constructed on purpose for observation, where it has no chance to bury itself in 

 the mud ; here it will sometimes take a little food. At such times I generally make use of boiled 

 barley, or rye flour converted into a kind of tough paste by the addition of hot water, and with 

 this I mix a little loam and dry bread ; but I continue the feeding only until I can .judge from the 

 looks of the fish that they have recovered. This method I followed with the Carp which I imported 

 from Europe for the purpose of breeding iu the winter of 187G-'77. It is a most striking fact that 

 the Carp, though it does not take any food during this winter sleep in its natural retreat, does not 

 diminish in weight, while, iu the so-called "winter chambers," it does so to a remarkable degree. 

 These "winter chamber's" are large tanks, one thousand to five thousand square feet in size or 

 less; they are sometimes walled in with masonry, sometimes they are constructed of wood. Fishes 

 intended for sale are kept iu them for a few weeks or months during the winter. 



The Carp does not grow in the winter. Warmth alone seems to exercise a favorable influence 

 upon it and to promote growth. It only grows iu the months of May, June, July, and August, 

 and does not appear to continue doing so in September. This slight increase in weight which 



1 Report United States Fish Commissioner, pt. iv, p. 876 et seq. 



