THE CARP POND. 



i43 



of the cyprinoids are still lovers of running 

 water, and many species still haunt the up- 

 land torrents of their native Central Asian 

 home. Another family, the siluroids, is by 

 descent the really typical group of muddy 

 water fishes. In England, we have no 

 siluroids — our streams are too pure and clear 

 and rapid for them — but in Germany the slow 

 rivers of the eastern plains support the big 

 wels, and in America the cat-fishes are found 

 abundantly in all swamps and shallow waters 

 of the great central level. Dr. Gunther has 

 traced the migrations of this important group, 

 as well as those of the carps — they form now 

 about one-fourth of all known freshwater 

 species — and has shown pretty certainly 

 whence they came and how far they have 

 gone. The siluroids are essentially fishes of 

 the sluggish waters in the plains, and they 

 seem to have had their origin in tropical 

 countries, where they still flourish best. 

 They have no scales, but are clad in a 

 slippery skin ; and they have always long 



