DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.— CLASS IV. PISCES. 
ORDER Il.—MALACOPTERYGII 
ABDOMINALES. 
BONY FISHES. 
Cyprinip&. — The Carps. First Family of the Malacopterygii 
Abdominales. 
The fishes of this family have a shallow mouth, feeble jaws, often with- 
out teeth, and the margin formed by the outer maxillaries ; but they have the 
pharynx strongly toothed. They have few gill-rays, a scaly body, and are 
the least carnivorous of the whole class, feeding on seeds, roots of plants, 
and mud, and the slimy substance which gathers on the rocks in fresh waters. 
It is a numerous family, at the head of which is the genus 
Cyprinus. — The Carps have a small mouth, without a single tooth, three 
flat gill-rays. They have a smooth tongue. “Their pharynx is a powerful 
instrument of mastication, having strong teeth on the inferior pharyngeal 
| bones; and they bruise their food between these and a strong disk, which is 
set in a large cavity under a process of the sphenoid. They have .a long 
dorsal fin, the second ray of which, as well as that of the anal, is armed 
with a strong 
C. Carpio. 
spine. 
— The Common Carp. 
This fish is of an olive-green color 
above, yellowish below. 
Tt bears transportation, or rather colonization, 
better than any of the class; and, from its home in Central Europe, it has 
found its way into the Jakes and rivers of both continents. It was intro- 
duced into England by Leonard Maschal, about the year 1514. 
Gesner brings an instance of one that was a hundred 
Carp are 
very long-lived. 
These fish are extremely 
They 
will sometimes leap over the nets, and escape that way; at others, will 
years old. They also grow to a very great size. 
cunning, and on that account are by some styled the iver Fou. 
immerse themselves so deep in the mud, as to let the net pass over them. 
They are also very shy of taking a bait; yet, at the spawning time, they 
are so simple as to suffer themselves to be tickled and caught by anybody 
that will attempt it. 
a fortnight in wet straw or moss. 
CU. sluratus. —The Golden Carp. These are the Gold-fishes and Silver- 
They are black when young, but by degrees ac- 
It is so tenacious of life that it may be kept alive for 
fishes of our aquariums. 
quire the golden red for which they are esteemed, though some of them are 
silvery, with various clouds of all the three colors. Some have no dorsal ; 
others, a very small one; others, again, have a caudal of three or four lobes ; 
and others still, very large eyes, —all of which varieties are merely acci- 
dental, and the results of that artificial treatment which they receive when 
