ABDOMINAL MALACOPTERYGIANS. 171 



Monstrous individuals of this species are sometimes taken with a 

 very gibbous front and short snout. 



A race with large scales is bred, in certain individuals of which 

 the skin is naked in spots, or even entirely : it is called the Reine 

 des Carpes, Carpe a miroir, Carpe a cuir, &c, — Cyprinus rex cy- 

 prinorum, Bl. 17. 



In others the cirri are deficient. Such, in Europe, are 



Cyp. carassius, L., Bl. XI. (The Carreau or Carassin). The 

 body elevated; lateral line straight; head small; caudal truncated. 

 Common in the north of Europe. 



Cyp. gibelio, Gm., Bl. 12. (The Gibele). The body somewhat 

 less elevated; lateral line arcuated below; caudal crescent-shaped. 

 Common in the environs of Paris. The spines of these two species 

 are weak, and it is with difficulty that any dentations are to be per- 

 ceived in them. 



Such also is the species which is so highly valued in France, where it 

 has been excessively multiplied, on account of the splendour and variety 

 of its colours. 



Cyp. auratus, L., Bl. 93. (The Golden Carp, or the Dorade of 

 China). Dorsal and anal spines dentated as in the common Carp. 

 This fish is at first blackish, and by degrees assumes that splendid 

 golden red which characterizes it; some, however, are of a silver 

 colour, and others again are marked by various shades of these three 

 colours. Individuals are found without a dorsal, others have a very 

 small one ; the caudal of a third is very large, and is divided into 

 three or four lobes: the eyes of a fourth are excessively distended; 

 all these accidental changes, which are the result of domestication, 

 may be variously combined*. 



To this group also belongs the smallest of the European Carps, 



Cypr. amarus, Bl. VIII, 3 ; La Bouviere, or Peteuse. An inch 

 long; greenish above; of a fine pale yellow beneath; in the spawn- 

 ing season, in April, it has a steel blue line on each side of the 

 tail; the second dorsal ray forms a tolerably rigid spine. 



Barbus, Cuv. 



The Barbels have the dorsal and anal short; the second or third ray of 

 the dorsal formed by a stout spine; four cirri, two on the end of the upper 

 jaw and two at its angles. 



B. vulgaris; Cyprinus barbus, L., Bl. 18. (The common Bar- 

 bel). Known by its oblong head; common in clear streams and 

 fish-ponds, where it is sometimes found ten feet in length. Italy 

 has some neighbouring species, whose spine is weaker, and which 



* Such are the Cypr. macrophtahnus, Bl. 410, or the gros yeux, Lacep. V, xviii, 2, 

 the C. quatre lobes, Lacep., lb. 3, and the varieties of the Gold-fish, Bl. 93, 94, &c. 

 See Collection des Dorades de la Chine, Sauvigny et Martinet. Add, Cypr. devarid., 

 Buch., pi. vi, f. 94;— C. calla, Id., pi. xiii, f. 81. 



