192 American Fisheries Society 



mained in the damp mud was conclusively proved by the 

 fact that one of the fish showed the identical mark of one 

 which had been among the originals and was not one cap- 

 tured when the two were recovered. It had lost a portion of 

 its dorsal fin, probably eaten from it by a mink or other 

 animal, and this mark leads me to believe that the story is 

 absolutely correct. 



On one occasion I caught a carp weighing twenty-three 

 pounds in a dam near Hibernia, on the Brandywine, taking 

 it about 8 a.m. Instead of placing it in the water on a 

 string, not trusting it on account of its size, I wrapped a 

 piece of burlap about its gills and by dampening this proba- 

 bly once in two hours and keeping the fish in the shade I 

 brought it home alive at 9 p.m., placed it in a bathtub and 

 in two minutes it had about all the water out of the tub and 

 had leaped out itself. 



So much for my experience with the humble carp, which 

 is not so humble after all when you have had experience 

 with it. 



DISCUSSION 



Prof. L. L. Dyche, Pratt, Kan.: I have collected material and am 

 still collecting it for a bulletin on the German carp in Kansas. I have 

 many notes on the German carp and would like to give some of my 

 observations: However, I will not consume time for such a discussion 

 at present. I might say, in regard to fishing for carp, that I have a 

 boy 11 years old who has been able to catch some fine ones out of the 

 Ninnescah River, a stream that runs along the north side of the fish 

 hatchery grounds. In this stream there are many fine carp, some of 

 which weigh as much as 15 to 20 pounds. The boy can catch these carp 

 with ordinary fish worms. They may also be caught with corn, es- 

 pecially where they have been baited with corn chop. Dough-balls 

 made from flour and cornmeal were used with success. The dough for 

 the balls was made by cooking flour and meal together in a frying pan ; 

 it was stirred we'll and salted. When cooked to a thick mush or paste 

 it was ready to be made into balls. A quart of this stuff was sometimes 

 made into balls or pills and thrown into the water, a handful at a time, 

 to bait the car]) and to teach them to eat it, then at the proper time 

 wlun the same material was used on the hook, the fish would usually 

 bite it and could be taken with little difficulty. 



One day 1 saw some men interested in the boy and attempting to 

 aid him in landing a fish. We learned that the young fellow had a 



