4i6 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



those which have been introduced into America by the Fish Commission. 

 These are (i) the " Scale Carp ;" with reguLir, concentrically arranged 

 scales, being in fact the original species improved. A picture of this form 

 stands at the head of the chapter. 



(2.) The "■ King Carp" or " Mirror Carp," thus named on account of 

 the extraordinarily large scales which run along the sides of the body in 

 three or four rows, the rest of the body being bare. When there is a row 

 of large scales down the back it is called the '■ Saddle Carp." 



THE LEATHER CARP. 



(3.) The " Leather Carp." which has on the back either only a few 

 scales or none at all, and possesses a thick, soft skin, which feels velvety 

 to the touch. 



In addition to these somewhat interchangeable varieties of the typical 

 Carp there are certain other local forms which have been described as 

 definite species, such as the Danube Carp, C. acuminatiis, the Lake Carp, 

 C. Jtu7igaricus, abundant in the Lakes of Flatten and Neusiedler, an 

 Italian form, C. rcgina and C. Nordmanni, from Southern Russia. 



Another Carp, Carassus vulgaris, the Karausche of Germany, often 

 called the Crucian Carp or German Carp, is as protean in its forms as 

 Cyprinus carpio itself, and probably found its way from the far East in 

 much the same manner : a large-headed form, C. gihclio, is often called 

 the Prussian Carp, and a specially differentiated type, C. buccphalits, lives 

 only in the warm springs of Macedonia. The Gold Cari^ or Gold-fish is 

 believed by some competent ichthyologists to be simply a variety of the 

 Karausche, and when it escapes from domestication, quickly reverts to its 

 ancestral form and color. The Karausche hybridizes freely with the Carp, 



