204 Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting. 
fishing-grounds. In addition many carp which had been taken 
in the pound-nets with whitefish were examined at Port Clinton. 
The results of these investigations showed that comparatively 
few carp were on the spawning-grounds at this season of the 
year, while all that were taken were small fish, seldom exceed- 
ing two or three pounds in weight. Examinations were made 
of the stomach contents of carp taken in gill-nets directly on the 
reefs, and only in two cases was anything found that could be 
identified as eggs of the whitefish. Moreover, the water is cold 
at this season of the year, and under such conditions carp are 
usually inactive. It thus appears that although they do un- 
doubtedly destroy some spawn the total damage done to the 
whitefish by the carp is probably small. It is rather generally 
conceded, too, that the supply of whitefish is being in large part 
maintained by the work of United States and state hatcheries, 
by which means the spawn is being removed from the danger of 
being devoured until the young fry have hatched. 
There is little evidence to support the conclusion that carp 
eat the young of other fish. It has been known to happen on 
one or two occasions when the fish were confined in aquaria, but 
probably is not frequent under natural conditions. The carp, 
with its sucking mouth, devoid of teeth, is not adapted to preda 
tory habits. 
The charge that carp uproot and destroy much aquatic vege- 
tation, and cause the waters in which they live to be in an al- 
most constant state of roiliness, appears to rest upon a better 
foundation. But it is doubtful if the effect of this condition 
upon other fisheries and the wild fowl is quite as serious as has 
sometimes been supposed. One great objection is, however, that 
beautiful bodies of water are sometimes disfigured, and as has 
been said, the fish may cause great annoyance in the reservoirs 
used for storage of drinking water. 
The other side of the question can best be examined under 
two heads: (1) The present commercial value of the carp and 
how its usefulness may be extended; and (2) what we may call 
the incidental value of the fish. The two great sources of carp 
for the eastern markets are the [linois River and the suitable 
portions of the Great Lakes, namely, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, 
and the adjoining marshes. It was estimated by Townsend that 

