66 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



ciennes states that it thrives and reaches an extraordinary size in the 

 Caspian. During summer these fish love basking in the sun, and 

 especially in early morning before the dew is off the water they may 

 be seen gambolling together when the water is still. In Virginia Water 

 are some mighty old fellows, 181b. or 191b. apiece, and I have seen 

 them before now rolling like pigs, before sunrise, as I have said. 

 They also, about this 'time, delight in shallow water, but as winter 

 approaches they seek the warmer depths. They are essentially social 

 fish, and love the company of their fellows. 



Their diseases are chiefly parasitic, owing probably to the lethargic 

 habits of the fish. These diseases are usually moat disastrous about 

 spawning time, when old ones especially die from various causes. 

 Flukes in the liver, like with a sheep, obstructions by cbickweed and the 

 anacheris weed, and tapeworm are the chief internal diseases, whilst a 

 fungoid growth develops itself in mild seasons "leprous " saysBlakey 

 which turns the fish almost white. I have seen a carp of 161b dead 

 from this, and a tapeworm in the pylorio ccecum of some 15yds. The 

 fish may now be seen at a little inn, the Jolly Sandboy, New Egham, 

 Surrey, and was taken from Windsor Park. 



The carp has a most respectable ancestral history, and indeed a very 

 ancient one, seeing that it is recorded that the father of Kungfoo, or 

 Confucius, received as a present a brace of carp on the birth of 

 his illustrious son, some 500 years before the Christian era. The 

 Indian Ehohita, which is almost identical with our Cyprinus carpio, 

 can trace a lineage more ancient still, for do we not find it was the form 

 of a carp which Vishnu assumed during his second avater for the purpose 

 of recovering the Vedas, or sacred books, that had been purloined by a 

 demon during the general consternation caused by a deluge ? And, 

 seeing this, need we be surprised to find that a fish of so much semi- 

 eacred importance, and having so high and honourable a place in the 

 Hindoo mythology, should be selected as an emblem of a peculiar Eastern 

 honour, termed in the Persian Court language, Maha Maratib the order 

 or Dignity of the Fish ? Mr. Pinkerton says in reference to this, " those 

 admitted to the order receive the high-sounding titles of ' Victorious 

 in War, Saviour of the State, and Hero of the Land,' and are distin- 

 guished by a representation of this carp formed of gilt metal and partly 

 enveloped in a mantle of green embroidered cloth the sacred colour of 

 the prophet being carried on a pole before them by an officer seated on 

 an elephant." The Hindoo emblem indicative of the connection of the 

 Ehohita with the religion is formed of three carps tri-corporated under 

 one head, and decorated with the flowers and stems of the sacred lotus. 

 The carp is the only freah-water fish which has attained mythical honours. 



