i6 



Tlie American Ans'lcr 



weight, age and imnsiial vigor of life, 

 the carp was esteemed highly in olden 

 times as a remedial agent; the fat of 

 the fish was held to be an excellent 

 emolient for "hot rheumatism"; its 

 gall as a curative liniment for sore 

 eyes, and a triangular stone, said to 

 exist in its jaws, was considered a good 

 styptic and efficacious in other direc- 

 tions. Under such a reputation we are 

 not surprised to find the carp as the in- 

 signia of an ancient Persian order, 

 Malia Maratib — the Dignity of the Fish 

 — conferred only upon those who had 

 performed great deeds of war or state. 

 These ancient honors are in keeping 

 with the fact that the brain of the carp, 

 according to Professor Owen, is larger 

 in proportion than that of any other 

 fresh water fish ; it is certainly consid- 

 ered to be one of the most shrewd and 

 cunning that take a baited hook, so 

 much so that it has earned the title of 

 "River Fox" among the anglers of 

 England and other countries. We find, 

 however, in American waters, the carp 

 to be much below this high standard as 

 a rod fish, but of this more hereafter. 

 The carp breeds in May in our 

 Northern States, and earlier in the 

 Southern. As many as 700,000 eggs 

 have been taken from a 9-lb. fish, and 

 they commence to spawn when of the 

 length of 5 to 8 inches. There are said 

 to be occasional hermaphrodites among 

 them, producing both eggs and milt, 

 and a fish in good condition was at one 

 time believed to spawn several times a 

 year, but they do not do so except under 

 most favorable conditions of food and 

 temperature, which exists in our South- 

 ern States, where they spawn two and 

 possibly three times a year. Hybrids 

 between the carp and other cyprinoids, 

 such as the bream and roach, are not 

 infrequently met with in European 



waters, and such, no doubt, will be 

 found in our own as investigation ex- 

 tends and this fish multiplies. It is of 

 all other fresh water fishes most sub- 

 ject to parasital pests. A tape-worm 

 measuring 15 yards, taken from a carp 

 of 16 lbs., was examined by J. Harring- 

 ton Keene. These fish are also sub- 

 ject to a disease called "leprosy" 

 by Blake, a fungoid growth which 

 turns the fish almost white. In 

 fact, their lethargic habits render them 

 particularly open to the attacks of para- 

 sites. 



The carp family [Cyprtnidcv) is a very 

 extensive one, embracing nearly 200 

 genera and 1,000 species; in America 

 alone we find about 53 genera and 225 

 species, but of these only four, the carp 

 (scaled, leather and mirror), the chub, 

 the roach and the gudgeon, merit our 

 attention as rod fishes, the others being 

 mostly minnows, and only serve the 

 purposes of the angler as baits for 

 larger fish. 



The angler layman is perhaps often 

 in doubt, when he attempts to differ- 

 entiate the three varieties of carp 

 {Cypri)ius carpio), "scaled," "parti- 

 scaled," and "scaleless, " as they are 

 designated by many fish culturists, but 

 a glance at the drawings given on this 

 and adjacent pages will be of great 

 aid to him. He will observe that 

 the scaled, or Asiatic species has 

 regularly arranged scales over its 

 entire body, except the head; that 

 the mirror or king carp has un- 

 usually large scales irregularly placed 

 in rows, three or four, on its body. 

 Professor G. Brown Goode tells us that 

 when there is a row of large scales down 

 its back, it is called the "saddle carp." 

 The leather carp has on its back only a 

 few scales, or none at all. The angler 

 will also possibly, perhaps frequently, 



