168 AMERICAN FISHES. 



although they do not at that period appear to have attained their 

 present celebrity. They are found in most of the lakes and rivers 

 of Europe, but thrive best in the more temperate southern districts, 

 degenerating when they are carried farther north. It is said that in 

 Russia they are even now unknown. " Their growth," says Mr. 

 Yarrel, " is, however, particularly cultivated in Austria and Prussia, 

 and considerable traffic in Carp prevails in various parts of the Euro- 

 pean continent, where an acre of water will let for as much yearly rent 

 as an acre of land, and where fresh-water fishes, as articles of food, are 

 held in higher estimation than in this country." Mr. Yarrel means 

 England, but the observation is even more applicable to the United 

 States than to Great Britain. " Carp," he continues, " are said to live 

 to a great age, even to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred years ; 

 but they lose their rich color their scales, like the productions of the 

 cuticle in some other animals, becoming gray and white with age." 



The exact period of the introduction of the Carp to England is 

 unknown, but it is mentioned in the Boke of St. Albans, by Lady 

 Juliana Berners, printed in 1496, and the great probability is that it 

 was naturalized from the continent, probably from the Low Countries, 

 or Austria, previous to the suppression of the monastic institutions. 



The Carp thrives best in ponds or lakes, and in such parts of rivers 

 as have a slow, lazy current, and a muddy or marshy bottom. 



" They are very prolific," I again quote from Mr. Yarrel, " breed- 

 ing much more freely in lakes and ponds than in rivers. Bloc found 

 six hundred thousand ova in the roe of a female of nine pounds' weight, 

 and Schneider seven hundred thousand in a fish often pounds' weight. 

 They spawn toward the end of May, or the beginning of June, depend- 

 ing on the temperature of the water and the season ; and the ova are 

 deposited upon weeds, among which the female is followed by two or 

 three males, and the fecundation of a large proportion of the ova is 

 by this provision of Nature eifectually secured ; but they both breed 

 and grow much more freely in some waters than in others, without 

 any apparent or accountable cause." 



The Carp, and indeed the whole family of Cyprinida, are the least 

 voracious of all fishes, and the least addicted to animal food, the larvae 

 of insects, worms, the softer and more gelatinous parts of aquatic 

 plants, and even vegetable mud, furnishing them with ample subsist- 



