THE CRUCIAN CARP m 



that the irides of fish change colour very rapidly after death, 

 and become suffused with congested blood, disguising the 

 original tint. This is very well known to the purveyors in 

 Italian towns. If, in Naples, you have the enterprise to 

 resist the attractions of the French restaurants in the modern 

 quarter, and repair instead to a native establishment of repute 

 in the Toledo (now named Via di Roma), the waiter will 

 bring you a tray of various fish, uncooked, so that you may 

 choose the one you fancy. Now it is a trick of those who 

 wish to palm off stale fish upon their customers to pull out 

 the eye and insert one from a fresh fish. Hence the knowing 

 guest indicates the fish of his choice by touching it on the 

 eye, and ascertaining that it is fixed in the socket. 



The crucian carp is no rival to the common carp in 

 size, rarely exceeding six or seven inches in length ; but, 

 owing to its sturdy build, it sometimes weighs as much as 

 i^ lb. or nearly i lb. In habits and food it resembles the 

 larger species, except that it is more fond of the bottom of 

 the water than the top, and is never seen on the surface 

 except about midsummer, when it spawns. At that season 

 these fish leave the deep water and crowd into the weedy 

 shallows, laying their abundant spawn on the leaves and 

 stems of water plants. 



In Great Britain the crucian carp is said to occur only 



in the Thames and in ponds in the valley of that river — a 



restriction of range which suggests that it is an 



Distribution. . j • /^ i • r -r- 



imported species. Un the continent or iLurope it 

 covers a very wide region, extending from Sicily to Norway, 

 and eastward to the Danube and Siberia. It most countries 

 it is used chiefly for fattening other fishes, but in certain 

 parts of the north of Europe it is said to be accounted, if not 

 a delicacy, at least not despicable as food. Frank Buckland, 

 who sampled the edible qualities of most creatures that move 

 in the waters, says that the flesh of Prussian carp, which 

 Dr. Giinther accounts for as but an elongated variety of the 



