10 



San Diego, that has not been supplied with a greater or less number 

 of these fish. They are regularly sold in all the markets, at the same 

 prices as our most abundant fish. They are admirably adapted to the 

 sloughs and warm waters of the great valley, and in them have so 

 multiplied as to furnish a large supply of food. The aggregate value 

 of this fish alone, sold in the markets of San Francisco and Sacra- 

 mento annually, would more than equal the appropriation animally 

 made by the State for fish culture. How constant has been the 

 demand made upon us for the wide distribution of this fish, may be 

 seen in our report of expenditures, which shows quite a large amount 

 paid for their capture, and in sending them bj' express to different 

 parts of the State. These fish are now so numerous and widely dis- 

 tributed that probably the time has arrived when their further 

 distribution should be left to private enterprise, and the money of 

 the State heretofore used for this purpose be employed in importing 

 some other equally valuable fish. 



CARP — CYPRINUS CARPIO COMMUNIS. 



Since the date of our last report, we received from Professor Baird, 

 at the Government carp ponds, in Washington, three hundred young- 

 carp of the most valuable variety. They were brought to California 

 with the loss of but two. Sixty were placed in a public lake near 

 Sacramento; the remainder were placed in the private pond of R. R. 

 Tliompson, in Alameda, who promised to protect tliem, and allow 

 the State to remove them and their increase whenever desired. We 

 have no report of those placed in Sutterville Lake; probably none of 

 them have been caught. Those placed in the private pond at Ala- 

 meda are doing well. These fish were hatched from the egg in June, 

 1879. When they arrived in this State, December 29, 1879, they aver- 

 aged about two inches in length. In June, 1880, one year from the time 

 they had left the egg, they had grown to a length of more than eight 

 inches. During the latter month, at the request of Professor Baird, 

 United States Fish Commissioner, we caused the pond to be netted, 

 and of the carp taken, forwarded one dozen to the ponds at Mare 

 Island, the Navy Department having expressed a desire that the 

 ponds at this Navy Yard should be stocked with the most valuable 

 variety of carp. The great increase in the size of the fish, and their 

 fine appearance, make it certain they have found congenial homes. 

 They were probably too young to have spawned last year. They will, 

 without doubt, produce young fish during the Summer of 1881. 

 AVhen the young fish are ready for distribution, we shall take meas- 

 ures to distribute them to all the appropriate waters throughout the 

 State. 



The eight carp, of another variety, brought to this State in 1872, 

 from Hamburg, by the late Mr. A. J. Poppe of Sonoma County, 

 increased largely, and have been widely distributed. Wherever 

 planted in our waters they have grown rapidly, and multiplied in 

 numbers. No other variety of fish have so long been under the care 

 and protection of man, and no other seems so capable of domestica- 

 tion. There appears to be a wide spread desire among farmers of 

 tills State, who have small natural or artificial ponds or sloughs on 

 their land, to procure carp for stocking their waters. Although the 

 carp belonging to the State have not yet produced any increase, and 

 as it is not probable an}' of the young of this fish can be ready for 



