THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 529 
The length of the head, from the tip of the snout to the posterior 
edge of the gill-cover or operculum, is in the neighborhood of one- 
fourth the length of the fish%, but is usually considerably less than the 
height. It varies considerably in individuals and with age. The eye 
is situated slightly less than halfway back on the head and ona line 
from the tip of the snout to the upper end of the branchial opening. 
The eyes are not quite circular, but are elongated slightly in a direc- 
tion parallel to the dorsal side of the head, and their long diameter is 
contained six to seven times in the length of the head. The mouth 
when closed is nearly horizontal, the gape reaching about halfway to 
the anterior margin of the eye. At the corners of the mouth are two 
short barbels, usually a little longer than the diameter of the eye, 
yellow or reddish in color, which are, however, longer than two olive 
colored ones on the upper jaw. Both sets are variable, and, according 
to Seeley (1886, p. 95), may be unsymmetrical on the two sides or 
frequently wanting entirely.? The lips are rather thick and fleshy, 
adapted to vegetable feeding, the iower somewhat shorter than the 
upper. The tongue is smooth. The palate is covered with a white 
and very sensitive skin (‘‘carp’s tongue”). The nostrils lie imme- 
diately anterior to the eyes and are double, those of each side being 
separated by a small projecting flap of skin. The anterior nostril is the 
larger. 
The dorsal fin arises anterior to the median point in the length of 
the fish and slightly in advance of the ventrals, and extends back even 
with the posterior end of the anal fin. The base of the dorsal fin equals 
rather more than a third of the length of the body, and its greatest 
height (at the second and third soft rays) is equal to about a third of its 
length. After the first two or three soft rays, of which there are 18 
to 22 in all, the remainder are only one-half to two-thirds as high, so 
that the free margin of the fin has a rather sharp reentrant angle at 
this point. Three or four (usually three) spiny rays precede the soft 
rays, the most posterior one being the stoutest and longest, with the 
extreme end usually soft and flexible; this soft portion is often broken 
away in older fish, however, leaving the ray with a hard, sharp point. 
The posterior border of this ray is serrated, the serrations or teeth, 
which have their points directed downward, lying on each side of a 
median groove and increasing in size from below upward. 
The height of the anal fin is greater than its length at the base, which 
is about equal to one-fourth the length of the base of the dorsal. It is 
composed of 3 spiny rays and 5 or 6 soft, articulated rays. The second 
stout, spiny ray is similar to that of the dorsal fin. The first of the 
aThroughout the description '‘length’’ is considered from the tip of the snout to the base of the 
caudal fin, or, more strictly speaking, to the posterior edge of the hypural bones, which is found in 
practical measuring by cutting the flesh away a little and probing with a steel point. For general 
purposes this measurement can be taken to the last scale in the lateral line. 
b6I, myself, have noted no cases in which they were absent. 
F. C. 1904—34 
