KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. *41 



The propagation of tliis fish is prosecuted on every imaginable scale, 

 Irom tliat just mentioned do^Yn to a tanli hokling not more than a few 

 cubic feet. In China, indeed, it is said that carp are reared to a very 

 great extent in ordinary washtubs and fed with vegetable refuse. 



In Germany, again, there is a regular alternation on the same ground, 

 from carp cultivation to that of the cereals or other plants, and after a 

 certain number of years the ponds are drawn off, allowed to dry and 

 seeded or planted until one or two crops are obtained, when the water 

 is again turned on and the carp reintroduced. 



There are several species of American Catostomidw which might in all 

 probability answer in some measure, if not fully, in place of the carp. 

 Among them are especially the buffalo fish, a large sucker, the flesh of 

 which is much esteemed. As, however, some special varieties of carp 

 have been develoj^ed and had their instinct of domestication established, 

 while experiments on our indigenous species are scarcelj^ yet tried, there 

 is no reason why time should be lost with the less proved species. 



In carp culture quite a number of varieties are known. The species 

 in its original condition is not very different in shape from a gold-fish, 

 and is of an olivaceous color, and distinguished by four barbels about the 

 mouth, these being inappreciable or wanting in the gold-fish. Where 

 the carp is kept in ponds, and where its habits are necessarily sluggish, 

 the bodj^ is thick and stout, and the fish tender and delicate. In run- 

 ning water, however, the back is sharper and the body more slender, 

 the residt of increased muscular activity consequent ux)on different sur- 

 roundings. The two principal varieties of carp i^roduced by cultivation 

 are the mirror and the leather carp. In the mirror carp all the scales of 

 the body have disappeared, with the exception of a few scales along the 

 vertical outlines, and those along the lateral line. The leather carp 

 goes a step beyond this, and is destitute of all scales excepting a few 

 along the hue of the back ; sometimes they are entirely wanting. The 

 difference between the two, however, is not very great, both being con- 

 sidered much superior to the scale carp, which is best known. It is 

 stated that the cross between the Cyprirms carpio and the Prussian C. 

 carassius, as also one between the gold-fish and G. carassiiis, are all known 

 as carp ; and the fact that they all represent the greater part of the fish 

 of that name in France and England, has given the idea of the inferior- 

 ity of the carx3. It is only in Germany that the different branches are 

 kept distinct and their comparative merits appreciated. The best of 

 these are said to be of very superior quality, ranking with the European 

 trout in point of price and estimation ; indeed, it is on these in the in- 

 terior of Germany that the population depend very largely for its sup- 

 ply of fish needed for church requirements and the general wants of 

 the table. 



As already stated, I have for a long time attached much importance 

 to the introduction of carp into the United States of America, as sup- 

 plying an often-exx)ressed want of a fish for the South, representing the 



