COMMON CARP. 



349 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYG1I* 



CYPR1N1D&.1- 



THE COMMON CARP. 



Cyprinus carpio, LINN/EUS. BLOCK, pt. i. pi. 16. 



,, ,, Car/), PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 467, pi. 81. 



DoN.Brit.Fish.pl.llO. 

 ,, ,, ,, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 185. 



,, ,, CUVIER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 271. 



,, ,, Common Carp, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 401. 



CYPRINUS. Generic Characters. Body covered with large scales ; a single 

 elongated dorsal fin : lips fleshy ; mouth small ; teeth in the pharynx, but none 

 on the jaws ; branchiostegous rays 3. 



HAVING concluded Baron Cuviers first order, the Acan- 

 thopterygian fishes, or those bearing numerous spines, which 

 support the Avhole or part of the membranes of some of the 

 fins, and of which various examples have been given, the 

 species forming the next great division are called Malacop- 

 terygian fishes, or those having their fin-membranes sup- 

 ported by flexible rays, which are either jointed or branched, 

 or both. These are again divided into three orders, accord- 



* Soft-finned fishes ; the fin-rays almost universally flexible. 

 t The family of the Carp. 



