THE CAEP. 



331 



young fish. The lens is shaped something like a jargonelle pear, and is so arranged that 

 its broad extremity is placed tinder the large segment of the cornea. 



The Stargazer is a native of Surinam, and is one of the viviparous fish. Three species 

 of this genus are now known to naturalists. 



THOUGH not so brightly spotted as the trout, nor so desperately active when hooked, 

 and very inferior in flesh, the CAKP is yet in much favour with anglers, on account of its 

 extreme cunning, which has earned for the fish the name of Fox of the waters. As the 

 number of British fish is so great, and our space so small, it will be needful to compress 

 the descriptions as much as possible, and to omit everything that does not bear directly on 

 the subject. 



The Carp is found both in rivers and lakes, and in some places, among which the royal 

 palaces of Trance may be mentioned, will often grow to an enormous size, and become 

 absurdly tame, crowding to the bank on the least encouragement, and poking their great 

 snouts out of the water in anxious expectation of the desired food. It is most curious to 

 watch these great creatures swimming lazily along, and to see how completely they have 

 lost the inherent dread of man by the exercise of their reasoning powers, which tell them 

 that the once feared biped on the bank will do them no harm, but, in all probability, will 

 be the means of indulging their gppetite with favourite food. 



The Carp is one of the fish that retains its life for a lengthened period even when 



CAJ?.Cyprinu8 cdrpw. 



BARBEL. Cyprinvs barsus. 



removed from the water ; and if carefully packed in wet moss so as to allow a free circula- 

 tion of air, will survive even for weeks. Anglers never seem sure of the Carp taking 

 plenty on one day and none at all for a week afterwards, the fish having been aroused to a 

 sense of their danger, and declining to meddle with anything that looks as if it might hide 

 a hook. Even the net, that is so effectual with most fish, is often useless against the ready 

 wiles of the Carp, which will sometimes bury itself in the mud as the ground line 

 approaches, so as to allow the net to pass over it ; or, if the ground be too hard for such 

 manoeuvre, will shoot boldly from the bottom of the water, leap over the upper edge of the 

 net, and so escape into the water beyond. 



A fine Carp, say of six or seven pounds, is a truly handsome fish, its large shining 

 scales lying on its body in the most beautiful regularity, and gleaming with olive-brown 

 washed with gold. The abdomen is white, with a tinge of yellow. 



