Oiiiiila Lake I'islits ^Ji 



l\ichar(lMMi, \ft. \>. i(j(»). l,cacli ('19, ]). 16) c<jnsi<Icr> i1r- iiaiiiral i<>'h\ u> be 

 iiioslly vfj;etation, though some animal matter is taken. >ik1i as larxae of insects. 

 The Carp, he says, is not cannibalistic in habits liut it will often consume its 

 own eggs. 



.\nalyses of contents of Carj) enterons confirm the conclusion that the fish 

 is omnivorous. Cole ('05. pp. 5'x>-573) Rives the results of the examination of 

 33 fish, in which he fonnrl that both vegetable and animal food had been taken in 

 l.irge amounts. Of the former, stonewort. or Cluira seemed important, the fish 

 cvi<lently taking large amounts of this ]jlant if it takes it at all. But the Carp also 

 h.ul fed uimn roots, leaves, corte.v and fibres of water ])lants, sedges, algae (Spiro- 

 i/yrn and diatoms ). The animal food was comiKise<l of insects ( ephemcrids, beetles, 

 chironomids. caddisflies^, crustaceans (am|)hii)ods. entomostracans ), worms, pro- 

 tozoans, and mollusks. W'hitefish eggs were found in two si)eciniens (p. 572) 

 taken in Lake Erie, in Xovember, near I'ort Clinton, Ohio, although only one 

 egg was actually identified frctm each fish. 



Seeley ( 'S(>, p. i)~), in discussing the Carp in luirope. says it subsists on algae, 

 young .shoots, water jilants, decomposing plant remains, mud rich in organisms, 

 including insects, and worms: and he notes that it becomes fat wherever dropjjings 

 of animals, especially those of sheep, occur. Bean ('03, p. i6y) informs us that 

 it will eat lettuce and cabbage, seeds of water plants, such as water lilies, wild rice 

 and water oafs; and he also notes its insectivorous diet. Hunt ('12, pp. i<>c>-ii)i ) 

 found that a large Carp had eaten corn, oats, wheat, worms (including earth- 

 worms), crayfish and hellgrammites (Coryilalis). Furthermore he found them 

 fee<ling upon mussels, some of which were still alive in the Carp's intestines 

 ( \>. 191 ). He considers that Carp are one r)f the causes of the the scarcity of these 

 mollusks in some regif>ns. Carman ('t>i. ]>. 144) found seeds of elms, ragweed. 

 sni;irtweed {Polyi/oiiinii ) and mollusks {Spiicriiiiii, I'liysa, l.ioplax) eaten by a 

 Carp. 



Baker ("16, p. 170) slates that in aiMition to plants, insect larvae, crustaceans, 

 etc.. Carp feed u|Min molluscs. This, he says (p. 214), amounts to 15'; of the 

 food eaten. 



Dyche ('14, p. 128) gives results of examining over 1200 Carp in fotxl 

 -tudie^. The vegetable matter was corn, wheat, oats, kafir corn, seeds of elm. 

 -martweetl. foxtail grass, sourdnck and sticktights — one stomach alone containing 

 from a thousand to five thousand weed seeds fif various kinds. He found no fish 

 among the stomach contents; but he has seen Carp taking dea<l minnows, although 

 making no elTort to get live ones, even when tluy were abundant and the Carp 

 were htmgry. lie fouiul the Carji to be fond of Ciraham bread, lH>iled i><itat«»cs, 

 and cheese (p. t20), and noted their habit t>f sucking u|) jmnd scums and "blow- 

 ing" out from their mouths material they did not want. 



The most ()recise tpiantitative studies of the fixxl of the Carp a|)|K-ar to have 

 been ni.ide by IVarse. He ('iS. p. 2381 examined the enterons of 42 fish frotn 

 lakes near M.ndison. Wisconsin. He found the following contents: Insect lar\-ac. 

 30.7 per cent ; pupae. f).8 per cent ; adult insects, 3.5 jior cent ; niites. 1.8 per cent ; 

 .■\mphi|)ods. 6.1) jht cent: entomostracans. 2o.<) |kt cent; snails, 6.0 p«?r cent; olig- 

 ocha<le wf)rms. 2S |ier rent : rotifers, 1 1 per cent: and traces of protozoans and 



