CARP AND TENCH. 95 



the ordinary size and shape, but in the males they 

 are much larger and more muscular, and present 

 almost the appearance of a green concave shell, the 

 concave side being uppermost. 



If the Tench is thus remarkable by its charac- 

 teristics and traditions, the Carp is certainly no 

 less so. The great age to which it is believed to 

 attain, and the cunning and sagacity that have 

 procured it the cognomen of the " Water Fox" 

 have been frequently made the subject of comment 

 by writers on angling. Indeed, there are some 

 Carp now in the lakes belonging to the Palace at 

 Fontainebleau which may be fairly said to have 

 become historical. The oldest of them have now 

 quite lost their normal colour from their great age, 

 and are very nearly white. There is, moreover, 

 evidence that many of these fish introduced into 

 the ponds at Versailles, &c., during the reign of 

 Louis the Fourteenth (say 1690), are either still 

 living or were so but a short time before the 

 Revolution of 1830. Dr. Smith, in his "Tour to 

 the Continent,'* mentions them, and observes that 

 they had grown white through age. Valenciennes 

 refers to others in the Tuileries, which would also 



S 



