CHAPTER? Vil 
THE CARPS 
The Carp—Appearance—Distribution—Habits—Angling for Carp—The 
Crucian Carp—Distribution—The Golden Carp, or Gold-Fish. 
Fourth Order: Physostomi: Bladder-duct Fishes 
In leaving the Anacanthini, or Spineless Fishes, and taking 
up the fourth order of Teleosteans, namely, the Physostomi, 
or Bladder-duct Fishes, we get into contact with an older 
type of animal, the remains of which are abundant in certain 
geological deposits of the Tertiary era. The distinctive marks 
of this order are the connection of the air-bladder, where 
present, with the mouth by a pneumatic duct (except in the 
Scombresocide), and the articulation of all the fin rays, save 
where in certain species the first ray in the dorsal and the 
first in the pectoral are ossified. The ventral fins are 
spineless, placed on the abdomen. 
Passing over the great family of Si/uridz, or Cat Fishes, 
and the smaller and exclusively marine one of Scopelide, we 
come to the third family in this order, an exceedingly 
important one in British ichthyology. 
Third Family, CYPRINIDAE: THE CARPS 
The carps comprise most of the fresh-water fish of the 
northern hemisphere in both the Old and the New World. 
They are also well represented in the tertiary deposits of 
99 
