10 CARP. 



feet long and twenty-five pounds -weight; it was supposed to be 

 about sixty years old. These were tame, and would come to 

 the side of the pond to be fed, and swallowed with ease a piece 

 of bread half the size of a halfpenny loaf. There is reason to 

 believe that these same fish remain to the present time. 



"Ponds should be well supplied with water during the winter, 

 and when they are covered with ice, holes should be opened 

 every day for the admission of fresh air, through want of 

 which Carps frequently perish. It is worthy of notice that 

 although the Romans were at great pains and expense in the 

 formation of ponds for various sorts of fish, none of the Carp 

 family are mentioned as being preserved in them, although some 

 of less estimation with us were then cared for; a proof of the 

 little estimation in which the Carp and Tench were held by that 

 luxurious people. 



"Carp are sometimes fed during the colder season in a cellar; 

 the fish is wrapped up in a quantity of wet moss laid on a 

 piece of net, and then laid into a purse; but in such a manner, 

 however, to admit of the fish breathing; the net is then plunged 

 into water, and hung to the ceiling of the cellar. The dipping 

 must be at first repeated every three or four hours, but after- 

 wards it need be plunged into the water only once in six or 

 seven hours; bread soaked in milk is sometimes given him in 

 small quantities; in a short time the fish will bear more, and 

 grow fat by this treatment. Many have been kept alive, breathing 

 nothing but air in this way, several successive days." 



It is a portion of the oeconomic history of this fish to record 

 the curious fact, that it has been castrated for the purpose of 

 rendering it a more delicious morsel. The following is from 

 the "History of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris," as 

 copied into the "Gentleman's Magazine:" — "Sir Hans Sloane 

 wrote to Mons. Geoff"roy of this Academy, and F.R.S. of 

 London, that a certain stranger came to communicate to him a 

 secret he had found out of castrating fish, and fattening them by 

 that means. This person, by the great skill he had acquired 

 in distinguishing and breeding fish, was now able to make a 

 considerable merchandise of them. The singularity of the 

 fact excited the curiosity of this learned naturalist, and the 

 fish merchant offered to give him ocular proof of the same. 

 Accordingly he procured eight Carrushens, (a kind of small 



