CHAP. ix. THE FOURTH DAY. 117 



proper element. And, therefore, the report of the carp's being 

 brought out of a foreign country into this nation is the more 

 probable. 



Carps and loaches are observed to breed several months in 

 one^ea^whicriprkes and most other fish do not And this is 

 paTtly proved "by tame and wild rabbits ; anct also by some 

 ducks, which will lay eggs nine out of the twelve months ; and 

 yet there be other ducks that lay not longer than about one 

 month. And it is the rather to be believed, because you shall 

 scarce or never take a male carp without a melt, and a female 

 without a roe or spawn, and for the most part, very much, and 

 especially all the summer season. And it is observed that they 

 breed more naturally in ponds than in running waters, if they 

 breed there at all ; and that those that live in rivers are taken 

 by rnen^of the best palates to be much the better meat. 



And it is observed that in some ponds carps will not breed, 

 especially in cold ponds ; but where they will breed they breed 

 innumerably: Aristotle and Pliny say six times in a year, if 

 there be no pikes or pearch to devour their spawn, when it is 

 cast upon grass, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve 

 days before it is enlivened. 



The carp, if he have water room and good feed, will grow to 

 a very great bigness and length; I have heard, to be much 

 above a yard long. It is said by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, 

 that in the lake Lurian in Italy carps have thriven to be more 

 than fifty pounds weight ; which is the more probable, for as the 

 bear is conceived and born suddenly, and being born, is but 

 short-lived, so, on the contrary, the elephant is said to be two 

 years in his dam's belly, some think he is ten years in it, and 

 being born, grows in bigness twenty years ; and it is observed, 

 too, that he lives to the age of a hundred years. And it is 

 also observed that the crocodile is very long-lived, and more 

 than that, that all that long life he thrives in bigness ; and so 

 I think some carps do, especially in some places ; though I 

 never saw one above twenty-three inches, which was a great 

 and a goodly fish ; but have been assured they are of a far 

 greater size, and in England too. 



