54 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 



was done by placing them in a box or cage, which 

 was deposited in a stream, the fish thereby gaining 

 in flavour. Culture has done much to improve 

 the carp, and American pisciculturists have now 

 so far succeeded as to breed a scaleless variety. 

 Looking to the fish as a source of food supply, 

 this is an important step in advance, and the 

 result has been brought about mainly by careful 

 selection. Although, as already stated, carp are 

 found for the most part in ponds, yet they 

 inhabit rivers, though they avoid all currents, 

 and seek silted or muddy bottoms. In such case 

 they are not so prolific as when found in ponds, 

 and as well as producing fewer eggs, they spawn 

 less frequently. To prove how prolific, under 

 favourable circumstances, carp really are, it may 

 be mentioned that the roe of a fish 21 Ibs. in 

 weight contained 1,310,750 eggs, and another of 

 i6| Ibs. 2,059,750 eggs. There is one matter 

 anent the breeding of this species which is not 

 quite clear. Female fish have sometimes three or 

 four successive layers of eggs, which they would 

 seem to shed, but at remarkably short intervals. 

 If the weather is warm, spawning begins in April, 

 but more commonly in May ; even with fish in 

 the same haunts, and under precisely like con- 

 ditions, spawning sometimes continues for three 

 or four months. Temperature affects carp more 



