92 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



that in 1793, at the fishing of the large piece of 

 water at Stourhead, where a thousand brace of 

 killing carp were taken, the largest was thirty 

 inches long, upwards of twenty-two broad, and 

 weighed eighteen pounds. " At Weston Hall, 

 Stafford shire, the seat of the earl of Bradford, 

 the painting of a carp is preserved, which 

 weighed nineteen and a half pounds ;" it was 

 caught in a lake of twenty-six acres, called the 

 White Sitch, on the estate. Other instances of 

 huge carp are on record. 



The carp, with its large scales resplendent 

 with golden brown, is too well known to need a 

 description. It is extremely prolific, and is so 

 tenacious of life, that it may be kept for days 

 on a basket of moss, freely saturated with 

 water. There is a small barbule at each corner 

 of the mouth. 



An allied naturalized species, the Crucian 

 carp, or Prussian carp, (Cyprinus gibelio,) is 

 found in some of our sheets of water, and in 

 various parts of the Thames. This species has 

 no barbules at the mouth ; it is extremely 

 beautiful, being of a brilliant golden metallic 

 lustre. In general habits, it agrees with the 

 preceding species. 



Another species, too well known to be de- 

 scribed, is the beautiful gold carp, or gold-fish, 



