32 THE HABITS AND HAUNTS OF FISH. 



is erroneous, as in Dame Juliana Berner's book on 

 angling, published in 1496, we have the following 

 mention of the carp : " It is a dayntious fysshe, but 

 there bene but faue in Englond, and thereforce I 

 wryte the lesse of hym." 



The carp is a vegetarian, feeding upon the more 

 tender parts of aquatic plants, and the growth of algae 

 and fungus with which aquatic vegetation is often 

 overspread. Insects and larvae also are taken by 

 them. Where carp run large they are anything but 

 " dayntious," as any vegetable garbage and refuse 

 will be eagerly and voraciously devoured by them 

 when cast within their reach. 



In the winter season carp lie partially buried in the 

 mud at the bottom of the lakes and ponds in which 

 they delight. Their ova becomes matured about 

 June ; they deposit their spawn upon weeds, etc. 

 These fish have the curious habit of emitting but a 

 small part of their eggs at once ; thus, they are taken 

 for some months containing more or less mature 

 spawn, the male fish having a similar characteristic. 

 The carp, like most leather-mouthed fish, have teeth 

 in the throat these, in the instance of the common 

 carp very much resemble the molar teeth of a 

 quadruped. They are very long lived, and many 

 remarkable instances of this are recorded. There 

 are many varieties of these fish now common in this 

 country. The Crucian and Prussian variety are 

 abundant in many waters. These are much shorter 

 and more plate-like in form than the ordinary carp. 

 TENCH (Tinea Vulgaris), like carp, flourish best in 



