50 SPAWNING OF CARP. [PART I. 



very killing dodge for them. It might be fastened 

 on a "bank-runner." 



Having noted, for some years, the days when 

 the Carp were spawning in several ponds in the 

 Isle of Wight, I find, on comparing my notes on 

 the subject, the earliest of these days to have been 

 the 19th of May, the latest the 3rd of July. The 

 time of spawning seems to depend much on the 

 mildness or backwardness of the spring, and also 

 on the position of the water, the Carp being always 

 earlier in a mild than in a cold season, and also 

 earlier in sheltered ponds than in those which are 

 exposed to currents of wind, and where the water 

 is colder, in consequence of its depth, or the influx 

 of a spring. I have, for instance, found the Carp 

 spawning in the same pond as early, after a mild 

 spring, as the 30th of May, and, after a backward 

 one, as late as the 1st of July ; and, again, in the 

 same year I have seen them spawning, in a shel- 

 tered pond, on the 19th of May, and, in a compara- 

 tively exposed and deep one, on the 1st of July, 

 the ponds being supplied by the same run of 

 water and only about a third of a mile apart, the 

 lower of the two being the earlier. My observa- 

 tions would lead me to conclude that the process 

 of spawning, with Carp, does not generally 



