98 THE FKESII-WATEK FISHES OF EUROPE. 



bottom of the pond or lake, and finding the deepest place, excavate holes, 

 and here, often pressed tight together, they hybernate for the winter, 

 necessarily taking no nourishment, and undergoing 1 very little emaciation. 

 In warm seasons activity returns to them in May, but more generally 

 in June in Germany. When activity is restored the fishes seek places 

 which abound in water-plants, or reeds, or flooded meadows, and soon 

 begin to deposit their eggs. Von Siebold mentions that at spawning- 

 time the males develop white spots, like warts, on the skull, cheeks, and 

 inner side of the pectoral fin. Two or three males may attend upon one 

 female. The males become greatly excited, the French expression, "saut 

 de carpe," or somersault, defining the character of their movements, but 

 the motion is a spring executed by folding the body, and sometimes the 

 jump is high, sometimes broad. The female is meanwhile perfectly calm, 

 and remains under the water-plants depositing the eggs in the stream. As 

 soon as she quits the spot one of the acrobatic males darts to the eggs, and 

 fecundates them, clouding the water with a milky tinge. The eggs are 

 small one third of a millimetre and of a greenish tint. Their number 

 varies with the age of the fish, and has been stated at 750,000 in an in- 

 dividual weighing .ten pounds. The fish begins breeding at the age of 

 three years, and at the age of five years will lay 300,000 eggs. The 

 fecundated eggs hatch in about eight days. The growth is rapid, so that 

 in the third year in the best ponds a Carp weighs from half a pound to a 

 pound. In pond culture it is transferred when about six or eight inches 

 long, and in a pond with a clay bottom may then in three years attain 

 a weight of four or five pounds. 



In a state of nature the Carp lives for twelve or fourteen years, but 

 survives much longer in confinement, although subject to many sicknesses, 

 deformities, and wonderful variations. The Carp of Fontainebleau, Chantilly 

 and other royal residences in France have been supposed to grow more than 

 a hundred years old ; but Blanchard disposes of these fables by observing 

 that in 1789, 1830, and 1848 the fish-ponds fell under the control of the 

 sovereign .people, who loved the Carp too well to permit great size or age 

 to be an obstacle to its ministering to their pleasure. 



The hearing of the Carp is excellent, and there are many examples of 

 their answering a call; and it moves by hearing even when it cannot see. 

 It makes an audible sound in eating and in swallowing air. 



It is tenacious of life, and can live for many hours out of water if kept in 

 damp grass or moss. 



The flesh of the Carp is esteemed, especially in Germany and in France, 

 and in both countries a great industry is carried on in breeding it for the 



