222 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



To neglect nothing, I wrote to Messrs. Kupnert & Sons, in Hambnrg, 

 the address given by Mr. Hessel, to obtain more information about the 

 phices where we coukl get carp. The rei)ly was it wonkl be useless to 

 go there, as we could get none at this season, and not before November, 

 and, besides this, noue but the genuine scaled carj) are raised in this 

 part of Germany. 



After considering all these circumstances, I thought it best to go to 

 Wiesbaden, where we were sure to get three different kinds, common 

 carp, mirror carp, and goldorfe. To go to Hungary was too far, and 

 my time would scarcely have allowed it, and at all the other i)laces we 

 would have obtained but a single kind. 



You had desired to get carp and its varieties, and as I had hoped to 

 get naked carp at Brickeburg, I thought it possible to get all three kinds, 

 and goldorfe as ^\e\\. Of the latter you did not write, but Mr. Hessel 

 seems to have brought some over, although in your letter you speak of 

 only goldtench {Cyprinus tinea -anrata). 



We started on the 14th (Sunday) to Brickeburg, which lies nearly on 

 the route to Wiesbach, but all my endeavors to obtain a supply of naked 

 carp were fruitless. 



In the pond near the principal castle we saw a great many naked carp, 

 a.mong them fellows of about 30 pounds weight, but the Hofmarshall and 

 the Oberforestmaster, the only persons who would have power to let 

 us fish with a hook, were absent, and no one could allow us this ])nxi- 

 lege. 



In the afternoon we drove to Heesen, a village in the neighborhood of 

 Brickeburg, where, also, my efforts were fruitless. Mr. Bodeman, the 

 superintendent of these fisheries, tried (after we went away) to catch a 

 supply by hook and net, but without success; and you may be sure he 

 did what he could. 



In the evening we went, by the way of Hanover and Frankfort, to 

 Wiesbaden, where we arrived, at 11 o'clock a. m. the 15th. I went 

 immediately to j\Ir. Kirsch, the director of the Nassauische fishery estab- 

 lishment. We went on Monday with him to Hochst, near Frankfort, 

 where there is a second establishment. To my great regret, there were 

 fewer mirror carp than he thought, and, in consequence of the extremely 

 hot weather, he dared not run the water off, and, as there were small 

 islands in the pond, the fish escaped the net. ^Ve could only get common 

 scaled carp and goldorfe. 



The latter, I told you, is not a genuine species, but a red variety of the 

 aland or nerfling {Idns mehowtus), ^]n^t as the goldtench is of the com- 

 mon tench. Although Mr. Kirsch, who has hatched goldorfe for eight 

 years, is convinced that it is a valid species, scientific people do not be- 

 lieve this : neither do tbey consider it as delicious a fish as the genuine 

 species. 



The aland is not valued very highly, but, on the other hand, Mr. Kirsch 

 has kei^t this variety for eight years, and they are very dear, being very 

 rare. 



