THe Ss) ATUS OF THE CARP IN: AMERICA, 
BY LEON J. COLE. 
(Read by Dr. Evermann.) 
(Presented by permission of Hon. George M. Bowers, U. 
S. Commissioner of Fisheries.) 
It is impossible to present in a paper of a length suitable 
to these meetings even a tolerably complete review of the carp 
question in this country. But since this is a topic of discussion 
which has not infrequently come up at previous meetings, and is 
one on which divers opinions have been expressed by members 
of the Society, a brief resume of the principal conclusions 
reached during an investigation of the subject by the writer, ex- 
tending over a period of three or four years, may not be without 
interest. Manifestly very little of the data upon which these 
conclusions rest can be given, but it is expected that there will 
soon be published a full report on the work, which was under- 
taken by direction of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. The in- 
vestigations were made principally on Lake Erie and Lake St. 
Clair and were prosecuted, for the most part, during the sum- 
mer months of 1901, 1902 and 1903. 
The first introduction of carp into America is a matter of 
more or less uncertainty. Although the name appears occa- 
sionally in earlier writings, apparently referring to some species 
of native fish, the first record bearing any stamp of authenticity 
is one by which Henry Robinson, Esq., of Newburgh, Orange 
County, New York, is credited with introducing these fish into 
the Hudson River in about 1831 or 1832. It has since been con- 
tended that the fish brought over by Mr. Robinson were not true 
carp; but in 1872 undoubted scale carp were successfully ac- 
climatized by Mr. J. A. Poppe in Sonoma County, California, 
where they thrived well and multiplied with great rapidity. The 
first importation by the U. S. Fish Commission was made in 
the spring of 1877, and was followed by two or three other lots 
in succeeding years. Ponds were constructed for these fish in 
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