324 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Kentuekians, at least, from having tbeir tastes. From fifteen to twenty 

 families around here have tried them at different times during the past 

 year, and, except two persons who could eat them but didn't relish them, 

 they unhesitatingly pronounced them unfit to eat. They have tried 

 them boiled, baked, and fried, and discarded them every way. One lady 

 says, they are well named leather carp, for we would prefer leather 

 served in any style, to them ; and, right here, might not our fish com- 

 missioners have mistaken their use, and ought we not to send a few to 

 the tannery? Another person says he intends to keep raising them, 

 for lie knows they will prove valuable for soap grease. Such are some 

 of their indorsements here, and we would like for others throughout the 

 country not to think so much of them as we did, having them nearly 

 three years before trying them, but to try them as soon as possible, and 

 report the results. — An anonymous Kentucky correspondent of the Ameri- 

 can Field, January 20, 1883. 



VI. — A FEW OPINIONS IN REGARD TO THE BONES. 



205. Very free from bones. — Very much like Lake Michigan 

 white-fish; bony at the back of the head, like shad. The remainder is 

 very free from bones. — E. Miller, Mahicah, N. J. 



200. Very few bones. — Fried, it was very good — very few bones. — 

 T. Holt, EoWs Summit, Mo. 



207. Fine flavor, no bones, and fat. — Yes ; dam broke, and those 

 injured in catching were baked and fried. They were of fiue flavor, fat, 

 and no bones. — Ed. M. Gresham, Carlton's Store, Va. 



208. Good but bony. — Yes ; a good number fried and boiled. They 

 are pronounced by all as good as any fish, excepting a few more bones 

 than we usually find in other fish. — M. S. O'iSTeal and C. G. Arnold, 

 Versailles, Ky. 



209. Bony, like buffalo. — I dissected two or three and I found 

 those detached bones that make the buffalo (Western CyprinidaB) thick- 

 lip so objectionable. Otherwise it is a good fish in August and Sep- 

 tember. After that they get soft and continue to be so till after they 

 have spawned in June. — E. Z. Butcher, Solomon City, Kans. 



210. Bones in small ones. — Yes. Fine baking fish. Small ones 

 are rather too bony for frying, perhaps. — E. A. Lindsey, Jackson, Tenn. 



211. Not full of bones nor muddy. — Carp are not full ot bones 

 and do not taste of mud as some would have us think, but, on the cou- 

 tiary, are very free from small bones and are a most excellent table fish, 

 to which several who have dined with me will testify. — II. B. Davis, 

 Macon, Ga. 



VII.— HINTS UPON VARIOUS WAYS OF COOKING CARP BY OTHER AD- 

 MIRERS OF THIS FISH. 



212. Fried brown: first rate. — Yes; we have tried them three 

 times. We scald them the same as catfish, roll them in meal, and fry 



