174 BRITISH FRESHWATER FISHES 



especially if the weather be cold ; at this time the 

 males have little white tubercles on the cheeks and 

 opercles. The Carp spawn on quiet shallows 

 amongst the weeds, to which the eggs adhere. 

 Sometimes a female is attended by two or even 

 three males, which swim above her, often leaping 

 out of the water, and by other antics betraying their 

 excitement. 



The eggs are small and very numerous ; they 

 hatch out in about a fortnight or sometimes less, 

 and the fry grow rapidly ; sexual maturity may be 

 attained in three years, when the fish may be a foot 

 in length and weigh about i lb., but the rate of 

 growth varies enormously according to circumstances, 

 and fish of this age may be three or four times as 

 large; growth takes place in the summer months 

 only. 



The Carp is popularly considered to rival the 

 Pike in longevity, and has been said to attain an 

 age of a hundred and fifty years ; but it must be 

 confessed that this and similar statements rest on 

 very unreliable evidence, although there is reason for 

 supposing that Carp live to a good old age. 



It often happens that apparently wildly im- 

 probable tales may have far more truth in them 

 than others which seem much less fanciful, and this 

 may well be the case with the following passage 

 from Walton : — 



" I have both read it, and been told by a 

 gentleman of tried honesty, that he has known 

 sixty or more large Carps put into several ponds 

 near to a house, where, by reason of the stakes in 

 the ponds, and the owner's constant being near to 

 them, it was impossible they should be stole away 



