THE CARP AND THE STICKLEBACK 



been after it; it had become caught in a thick tuft of 

 reeds and could not get free. Three-quarters out of the 

 water, its boundings and somersaults brought it out more 

 and more until it was completely above the surface. Its 

 great mouth opened and closed; it breathed in air and 

 blew it out again; its gill-covers beat vigorously; its 

 tail kept striking and bending the stalks of the reeds. 

 These efforts were in vain; the creature, imprisoned, 

 caged, caught in this natural trap, was gradually stifling. 

 I went to get help. With a hook, we took it, brought it 

 to the bank, and there, at last, it died. 



Then I could contemplate this giant of the pond, 

 hitherto unseen, but now .spread out before its captors, 

 who were looking at it with curiosity. It was measured; 

 the total length from the tip of the snout to the fork 

 of the tail was nearly three feet. It was weighed, and 

 its weight came to slightly over thirty-four pounds. 

 Everything about it, not only its size, denoted old age. 

 The large snout had thick lips and barbs which were 

 partly broken. One of its eyes, which had obviously 

 been damaged a long time before and was almost empty, 

 was covered with a whitish, chalky film. The long 

 dorsal and anal fins which had beaten the reeds had 

 been torn, several of their rays were bared and broken. 

 Many of its scales had come away, leaving the skin bare 

 and raw in places; others which were still in place were 

 broken at the edges. The intestine, which we opened 

 to its full extent, had in it only a small quantity of semi- 

 liquid matter, as if old age had arrested the capacity 

 to take solid food. 



" It must be very old," one of the bystanders re- 

 marked. " It is as decrepit as a centenarian. Is it poss- 

 ible to tell how old it is? " I answered this question in 

 the only possible way. I took from my pocket the little 

 magnifying glass which as a naturalist I always carry 

 about with me, and from the carp's body, not far from 

 the dorsal fin, I took one of the best preserved scales, 

 wiped it with my handkerchief to clean it, and then 

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