NATURAL HISTORY. 



423 



Oder II. . . . 3IALACOPTERYGil.(Gi\ MC^G/COT, soft; - 



a fin.) 



i:'ul>-order I. ABDOMINALIA. (Lat. belonging to the abdomen.) 

 Family I. ... Cyprimdrc. (Gr. Ki>7rp/>of, a Carp.) 



CYPRINTS. 



/-.r 



w0li : f - ; . 

 .- 



'llffl ,X ,/.- , T ^-'_ ^-5<^=i-^-.^ 



- 



' 



Carpio (Lat), the Carp. 



rejecting one day a bait which had been freely taken the day 

 previous.^ 



It lives to a great age, and when very old its scales turn grey 

 just as human hairs do. In several places in France numbers 

 of Carp were kept until they attained an enormous size. These 

 great sluggish fish were accustomed to come to the water's 

 edge in order to be fed at the call of their keeper. Feeding the 

 Carp was almost a hereditary amusement of the latter kings of 

 France. 



Very few fish are so tenacious of life as the Carp. It is the 

 custom in Holland to keep these fish in nets filled with wet 

 moss. They are fed with bread and milk, and are preserved 

 in health by frequent immersion in water, in order to keep the 

 moss thoroughly wet. 



Two or three pounds is the average weight of a good Carp, 

 but individuals have been known weighing upwards of eigh- 



* In 1847, while fishing in a small pond near Oxford, I took in one hour six or 

 seven carp, weighing ^irom half a pound to nearly three pounds each. A few days 

 afterwards, although the weather was equally propitious, the carp were not, and the 

 whole day was spent without even a bite. 



