CARP TRIBE. 



457 



terus) without an air-bladder the number of barbels is six, but otherwise there are 

 never more than four of these appendages, which may be reduced to a single pair, 

 or be wanting. 



Belonging to a group in which the anal fin is short and usually furnished with 

 five or six branched rays, the true carps have the lateral line running along the 

 middle of the tail, the dorsal fin placed opposite the pelvics, and containing a more 



GROUP OF CARP. 



1, Carp ; 2, Large-scaled variety of Carp ; 3, Crucian Carp : 4, Barbel (A nat. size). 



or less strongly serrated bony ray, and more than nine branched rays, while the 

 pharyngeal teeth are arranged in three series, with those of the outermost one 

 molar-like. The muzzle is rounded and blunt, with four barbels, and the rather 

 narrow mouth at its extremity. The true carps form a small genus confined to 

 the temperate parts of Europe and Asia, the common species being a native of the 

 latter continent, and abundant in a wild state in China, where it has also long been 

 domesticated. Thence it was introduced into Germany and Sweden, and subse- 



