38 NUMBER OF EGGS IN CARP. 



ponds and lakes connected with country houses, and it 

 will be well worth the while of proprietors to have the 

 water drawn off to see of what their stock may consist ; 

 and this because it appears that after a certain number 

 of carp are in a pond they will not multiply at all. In 

 fact, by a wonderful law of nature, the crop of carp 

 equalises itself by the quantity of food the pond will 

 produce. Moreover, I am quite certain that after a 

 time the carp will eat their own eggs, and very prob- 

 ably their young. 



A remarkable fact about carp is that, according to 

 my observations, the female sometimes carries two, if 

 not three, successive layers of eggs. I confess I do not 

 quite understand the iDhysiology of this. Carp eggs 

 are excessively numerous. I have a fine cast in my 

 museum of a cai-p, kindly lent by Mr. Charles, of 2, 

 Arabella Eow, Pimlico. This fish weighed 21^1bs. I 

 have since, by carefully weighing the roe, discovered 

 by average that it contained no less than 1,310,750 

 eggs. Another smaller fish, which turned the scale 

 at 16i- lbs., contained roe which weighed S^lbs., giving 

 the total of 2,059,750 eggs. To be accurate, the weights 

 and calculations were made by my friend the late Mr. 

 Thomas, a professional accountant. 



Carp live to a very great age. Wheeler, who pre- 

 ceded Keene, fisherman at Windsor Park, told me that 

 a carp in a certain stew in the park must be nearly a 

 hundred years old. 



At Fontainbleau, I understand that carp are shown 

 with a white growth about their heads and bodies, and 

 this is pointed out as a j)roof of their very great age. 

 The fact is, that this white growth, sometimes called 

 moss, is a xmrasitic vegetable fungus {Saprolegnia ferax). 

 They are also subject to another disease, called the 

 small-pox. 



