THE CARP. 



Capable of living out of water. 



iuve seen some of these fish, thus treated and 

 maintained, above a yard long, and of twenty 

 five pounds weight: but had no opportunity of 

 ascertaining their age. " In the pond, however, 

 at Charlottenburg," he adds, ." a palace belong- 

 ing to the king of Prussia, I saw 7 more than two 

 or three hundred carp, between two and three 

 feet long; and I was told by the keeper they 

 were between fifty and sixty years standing. They 

 were tame, and came to the shore in order to be 

 fed ; they swallowed with ease a piece of white 

 bread of the size of half a halfpenny roll." 



This fish is extremely tenacious of life, as it is 

 capable of not only living for a considerable time 

 out of water, but of its growing fat in its new 

 element. Mr. J. R. Forster has seen the experi- 

 ment successfully tried, and attended to the 

 whole process, in a nobleman's house where he 

 then resided, in the principality of Anhalt Des- 

 sau. " The fish," he says, " being taken out of 

 the water, is wrapped up in a large quantity of 

 : wet moss, spread on a piece of net, which is 

 then gathered into a purse; in such a manner, 

 however, as to allow him room to breathe. The 

 net is then plunged into water, and hung up to 

 the ceiling of a cellar. At first the dipping must 

 be repeated every three or four hours; l>ut after- 

 wards the carp need only be plunged into the water 

 once in about six or seven hours. Bread soaked 

 in milk is first given him in small quantities. In 

 short time the fish will bear more and grow fat 



