14 CARP. 



passes upward. A series of small bones has been discovered 

 to proceed from the true organ of hearing downward, by 

 which it has been supposed that the elasticity of air in this 

 bladder may assist in perception of particular sounds. 



The Carp is exceedingly prolific, and the early growth of the 

 young is rapid; but although capable of producing spawn in 

 the third year, the magnitude this fish is capable of reaching 

 is not attained for several years beyond this. On the continent 

 of Europe it has been seen of the length of five or six feet, 

 but nothing like this has been witnessed in Britain. Individuals 

 which have been in possession of both milts and roe have been 

 met with more frequently in this species than in any other 

 fish; and there are individuals which are absolutely neutral, or 

 destitute both of milt and roe. Nor is this the only remarkable 

 irregularity of structure; for I am informed by Edmund T. 

 Higgins, Esq., who has carefully studied these objects in various 

 orders of fishes, that in the Carp the otolithes (bones of the 

 ear) are not always alike on both sides; in fact that in some 

 instances they are altogether wanting on one side. The position 

 of these bones is also different from what is the case in other 

 fishes; so that the bone termed the malleus is at a distance 

 from another called incus, and it is serrated all round the 

 border. These things are worthy of notice, since they have 

 not hitherto been recorded. 



That the Carp was known to the ancient Greeks, however 

 little regarded, appears from Aristotle, who particularly mentions 

 the fleshy pad in its palate, and the manner of its breeding, of 

 which he says, "Pond and river fish begin to produce usually 

 when five months old; (but knowing little of Trout, and nothing 

 of the Salmon, he is partially in error when he adds, 'they 

 all produce their spawn at the beginning of summer.') The 

 females of these kinds never shed all their spawn nor the 

 males their milt at once; but both sexes are always found 

 to contain a portion of these parts. The Carp produces five 

 or six times a year, under the influence of the stars." — B. 6. 



The Carp was in^^voduced into the south of Sweden in the 

 year 1560; and, together with the Tench, Dace, Roach, and 

 Goldfish, it has been conveyed into the Colony of Victoria, in 

 Australia, by the Acclimation Society of that country; where 

 they are likely to live and thrive. 



