306 CYPRINID*:. 



ventral fins altogether. The first order of this second divi- 

 sion, the second order in the whole subject, called Abdominal 

 Malacopterygii, or those having the ventral fins situated 

 on the belly, without any connexion with the bones of the 

 shoulder, commences with the fresh-water fishes, which are 

 not only very numerous, but also the best known. 



The Carp is noticed by Aristotle and Pliny, but appears 

 not to have been held in the same estimation formerly as 

 at the present day. It is found in most of the lakes and 

 rivers of Europe generally, but those of the southern and 

 temperate parts are most congenial to it ; it is observed 

 to decline in size when transported to the higher northern 

 districts, and is said to be even now unknown in Russia. 



Their growth is, however, particularly cultivated in Aus- 

 tria and Prussia, and considerable traffic in Carp prevails in 

 various parts of the European continent, where an acre of 

 water will let for as much yearly rent as an acre of land, and 

 where fresh- water fishes, as articles of food, are held in higher 

 estimation than in this country. Carp are said to live to a 

 great age, even to one hundred and fifty, or two hundred 

 years ; but they lose their rich colour, their scales, like 

 the productions of the cuticle in some other animals, be- 

 coming grey and white with age. 



Neither the exact period when, nor the particular country 

 from which, Carp were first brought to England, appear 

 to be distinctly known. Leonard Mascall takes credit to 

 himself for having introduced the Carp, as well as the 

 Pippin ; but notices of the existence of the Carp in Eng- 

 land occur prior to Mascall's time, 1 600. In the celebrated 

 Boke of St. Albans, by Dame Juliana Barnes, or Berners, 

 the Prioress of Sopewell Nunnery, printed at Westminster 

 by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, Carp is mentioned as 

 a " deyntous fisshe ;" and in the Privy Purse expenses of 



