VII. 



CARP AND BREAM. 



THERE are no indigenous British carp. Carp- 

 culture was once not uncommon in England 

 under semi-domestic conditions, though most of the 

 fish that now inhabit our ponds and rivers have 

 been introduced from the Continent. The first 

 mention of the carp is that by Dame Juliana 

 Berners, in the " Boke of St. Albans" printed by 

 Wynkyn de Worde, at Westminster, in 1496. 

 In this it is described as a " deyntous fysshe, 

 but scarce " which we may well believe ; for 

 more than a century later Leonard Mascall takes 

 to himself the credit of having introduced this fish 

 into English waters. As fish stews are found in 

 connection with almost every religious house 

 throughout the country, and as many of these are 

 specially adapted to carp-culture, doubtless these 

 fish were introduced and tended by monks. The 

 fish of the carp kind found most commonly in 

 Britain are the Common carp (Cyprinus carpis] ', 

 the Crucian or Prussian carp (Cyprinus gilelio] ; 



E 2 



