THE GEEMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 573 



time of day, 1 obtained no very .satisfactoiy data. Neither did I lind 

 any other conditions which .seemed regularl}^ to influence their feed- 

 ing. It is stated by some autliors — and I have some evidence to liear 

 them out — that car]) feed especially in the early morning- and late in 

 the afternoon. But I have frequentl}^ found them feeding at all other 

 times of da}^, even in the hot midday sun of summer. This much 

 seems to be true, however, that they are usual I3' n:iore qidet in the 

 middle of the day; one does not hear them splashing about so often. 

 In the late summer, the fishermen tell me, the carp in Lake Erie, at 

 least, feed mostly at night. As to the time of j^ear, Seeley (1886, 

 p. 97) says, "Like many other fishes, it feeds most frequently before 

 the spawning season." In Europe they are said not to eat at all during 

 the winter months, In this country I have reason to know that they 

 do, to some extent, at least. 



BREEDING HABITS. 



In Europe the carp is said to spawn principally in May and June, 

 though in some cases the process extends several weeks longer. As 

 well as I can ascertain, the same statement holds for the northern 

 United States. In our Southern States and California spawning is 

 apparently earlier, often beginning in April. In the waters contigu- 

 ous to Lake Erie the height of the spawning season seems to be in the 

 latter part of May and early June. On the St. Clair Flats I believe 

 it is usually a little later on account of the lower temperature of the 

 water, which comes directly dow^n from Lake Huron. This tempera- 

 ture dill'erence affects the time of spawning of the bass, dog-tish {Ainia), 

 and other shallow-water spawners as well, for I have found the eggs of 

 these fish at the Flats when the season for them was entirely past in 

 thq interior lakes and rivers of the state. 



The age at which carp spawn also depends largelj^ upon the tempera- 

 ture. European authors state that they reach maturity in the waters 

 of temperate Europe when they are 3 years of age, and the same 

 probably holds true in general for the corresponding region in North 

 America, though apparently they sometimes spawn, at least in the lati- 

 tude of New Jersey, w hen they are only 2 years old (cf . statement of 

 John H. Brakeley, Bordentown, N. J., Smiley, 1886, p. 757). Judging 

 from other statements quoted in the same report, they commonly breed 

 at the age of 2 years in the South (where they do not hibernate in the 

 winter), and according to Mr. Poppe, of California (Poppe, 1880, p. 

 QQ-i), his tish spawned when they were only 9 months old. At the 

 time of first spawning the fish will usuall}^ weigh 3 or 4 pounds and 

 have a length of 15 to 18 inches. 



At the spawning season, but before the fish have spawned, the 

 females can usuall}^ be readily distinguished by their distended condi- 

 tion. Though the ova themselves are rather small, the number is 



