THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1893. 



69 



chasing her to some shallow place where 

 there is an abundance of water plants. 

 They lash the water in a lively way, 

 twisting the posterior portion of the 

 body energetically and shooting through 

 the water near its surface, with short, 

 tremulous movements of the fins. At 

 places they gather together in a compact 

 mass, one tumbling over another ; this 

 is the moment when the female drops 

 her eggs, which are immediately im- 

 pregnated by the male. 



As this process is repeated several 

 times, the female probably drops but a 

 few hundred eggs at a time and she 



examination, be found covered very pro- 

 fusely with little yellowish eggs about 

 the size of a pinhead. These hatch 

 variously in from six to fifteen days, just 

 as the circumstances of the locality and 

 the temperature of the water is favor- 

 able. As is the case with many other 

 kinds of fish, it is only during the 

 spawning season that the sexes may be 

 distinguished with certainty. 



The skin upon the forehead and jiarts 

 of the back of the male become cov- 

 ered with tubercles, which again disap- 

 pear when the spawning time is over. 

 About three days after hatching, the 



may, therefore, consume days or weeks 

 even in depositing her full quota of 

 spawn. 



A female weighing from 4 to 5 

 pounds, contains on an average be- 

 tween 400,000 and 500,000 eggs ; it is 

 on account of this enormous fecundity 

 that the fish has received the name of 

 "carp," which means productive. 



The eggs are covered with some ad- 

 hesive substance, mucous probably, and 

 adhere to anything they may happen 

 to touch. The water-plants in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the place where the 

 fish had been rolling about will, upon 



young have absorbed the yolk-bag, and 

 begin moving about in search of some- 

 thing to eat. By the following No- 

 vember, if the circumstances have been 

 very favorable, the young can have at- 

 tained a length of ten inches ; this is 

 unusual, the rule being a length of from 

 four to six inches. They are then of a 

 brilliant silvery color, the fins present 

 ing beautiful tints of bright vermilion. 

 During. the winter, in cold climes, 

 carp do not increase in weight, doing 

 well if they hold their own. They pass 

 that season in a torpid state, buried in 

 the mud ; forty or fifty group together 



