REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXV 



greatest difficulty, and they are considered by many as asexual. The 

 sterile carp is mentioned by Aristotle. They are generally well known 

 and can be distinguished by those accustomed to handle them. In 

 France the sterile form is the Carp Brehaigne and Carpeau. De La- 

 tourette states that the sterile carp has shorter and thicker lips, and that 

 the belly in the. vicinity of the anus is thin and shrunken.* The better 

 varieties seem to be the Spiegel-karpfen, mirror carp {Cyprinus specularis 

 Lacep), {Cyprinus rex-cyprinorum (Bloch), Cuv.,) and the naked carp 

 {Cyprinus nudus Bloch) or {Cyprinus alepidotus Ag.) and the sterile ones. 

 It is claimed by certain English writers that by a process of spaying or 

 castration, which can be performed on the carp, the flavor is much im- 

 proved. 



The artificial propagation of the carp has been carried on successfully 

 in Europe for a number of years. Their annual deposit of eggs, how- 

 ever, is so large in numbers that artificial impregnation is seldom neces- 

 sary, though affording a larger percentage of increase over the natural. 

 The spawning season in Middle Europe is May and June, though, accord- 

 ing to Siebold, some spawn as late as August. The eggs are very adhe- 

 sive, and in a state of nature are found sticking to the leaves of plants 

 and the small twigs of brush which have fallen into or which grow 

 under the water. The eggs are thought to develop best when only one 

 or two inches from the surface, t The fish emerges from the egg after 

 about twenty days, leaviug the shell still attached to the plant or twig. 

 The artificial method is to express the eggs on light frames of netting, 

 ©r on baskets made by wattling a wooden frame with boughs, the milt be- 

 ing scattered over them as they lie adherent to the nets and the leaves. 

 The netting frames are placed vertically in a floating box, which, in a 

 running stream, is afforded the necessary water circulation. The basket, 

 when covered with the impregnated eggs, is treated in like manner. 

 The boughs of the juniper (Juniperus) are said to be the best for making 

 the baskets. The pairs of ripe fish may be put into the basket and left 

 to themselves, a piece of netting being tied over the top to prevent 

 their escape. After the eggs have been deposited the fishes should be 

 removed. 



Among the localities in Europe where, it is stated, they are bred, the 

 following are referred to, with, in some cases, the name of the proprietor 

 or superintendent of the ponds : 



" The naked carp {C. nudus Bloch) is chiefly raised in North Germany; 

 the mirror carp {C. rex cyprinorum (Bloch) Cuv.) in South Germany; the 

 scaled genuine carp in North Germany (Mecklenburg, Holstein, &c), 

 in Bohemia and Silesia ; " fide Dr. O. Finsch. Casel, mirror carp, Mr, 

 Lewin Fischhof; Geirsdorf, Silesia scaled carp ; Wittengen, Hanover, 

 Mr. Link; Hameln, Fishermeister Schieber; Liebbinchen, Brandenburg; 



*See Die Siisswasserfische vou Mittel-Europa^bearbeitet Von C. Th. E. v. Siebold. 

 Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1863. 

 t Report 18?2-'73, p. 568. 



