48 . CHECK LIST OF THE 



while the German variety has the body completely covered with scales, 

 this last being the most abundant form in our waters. 



No greater mistake was ever made than the introduction of this hsh 

 into North American waters. In England, where it is well known, it 

 was considered about the most worthless fish they had and one of the 

 most difficult to get rid of, where once it had become established. On 

 some parts of the continent of Europe, however, where good fish are 

 scarce, the Carp was cultivated and fed in ponds with care and probably 

 because the people knew no better, it was more appreciated. In this 

 country, where fish of the highest quality should l^e obtainable by every 

 one, there is no place for the Carp. 



De Kay states that it was first introduced into New York waters in 

 1831. In 1870 it was taken to California and in 1877 the United States 

 Fishery Commissioners imported a considerable number and propagated 

 them only too successfully. Since then they have spread into all accessible 

 waters and have become an unbearable nuisance wherever found, for not 

 only are they damaging our fisheries, but also by reason of their destruc- 

 tion of the wild rice beds they are causing the wild fowl to avoid the feed- 

 ing grounds to which they formerly resorted during the autumn flight. 



The food of Carp consists principally of insects and vegetable matter, 

 preferably, perhaps, of the seeds, young shoots and tender roots of 

 aquatic plants; when feeding it constantly grubs up the bottom, thereby 

 stirring the mud and keeping the water in su(^h a dirty condition that none 

 of our valuable fish will remain in it. 



The spawning season in our waters commences in June and seems to 

 last until August. The fish are very prolific, make rapid growth, and 

 attain a large size, specimens weighing over twenty pounds having fre- 

 quently been taken in American waters, while in Europe they have been 

 known to reach ninety pounds. 



Order APODES. (The Eels.) 



Teleost fishes with the premaxillaries atrophied or lost, the maxillaries 

 "V lateral, and the body anguilliform and destitute of ventral fins. The most 

 striking feature is the absence of the premaxillaries, taken in connection 

 with the elongate form and the little development of the scapular arch, 

 which is not attached to the cranium. Other characters not confined to 

 the Apodes are the following : The absence of the symplectic bone, the 

 reduction of the opercular apparatus and of the palatopterygoid arch, the 

 absence of ventral fins, the absence of the mesocoracoid or pra:coracoid 

 arch, and the reduction or total absence of the scales. There are no 

 spines in the fins, the gill openings are comparatively small, and there are 

 no pseudobranchice. The vertebrae are in large number and none of them 

 are specially modified. The tail is isocercal ; that is, with the caudal ver- 

 tebrse remaining in a straight line to its extremity, as in the embryos of 

 most fish. 



