28 



CARASSIUS. 



"We arrange as in a separate genus those species which have the 

 general characters of Cyprinus, as defined by Cuvier, with an extended 

 dorsal fin and short anal; but the mouth without barbs, and not having 

 a firm denticulated ray to the dorsal and anal fins. Some appearance 

 of such a toothed ray may be perceived in one or two of these species, 

 but so obscurely as to be scarcely discernible. 



CRUCIAN. 



Carassius, Willoxjghby; p. 269, pi. Q. 6; but he does not 



distinguish it from some other species, as 

 Alburnus and BaUerus. 

 Cijiyrinus carassius, Linn^us. Cuvier. Blocii; pi. 11. 

 " " Jenyns; Manual, p. 403. 



" " Yabrell; British Fishes, vol. i, p. 355. 



So little was formerly known of this fish that Gesner says he 

 could not find it had been mentioned by any writer before 

 Dubravius, and much uncertainty still rests upon it when 

 considered as a British fish; for although Pennant mentions a 

 fish of this name as known to himself, it is supposed to have 

 been by mistake for the Prussian Carp; and Mr. Yarrell had 

 obtained it in a few instances from the Thames; yet this is 

 consistent with the belief that the species was at first introduced 

 among us, and that even at a recent date. This indeed is 

 asserted or implied in the experiments of which it was the 

 subject; and of which an account is given in our history of the 

 Carp. In what is there referred to the examples had been 

 procured from Hamburg, where the fish appears to have been 

 well known; for Linnaeus refers to the Acts or Transactions of 

 the University of Ui^sal, where it is called by the elder 

 Gronovius Cyprinus Hamburger, as characteristic of the place 

 where chiefly it was found. 



