THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 539 
is successfully carried on, and that even in Schleswig the people com- 
plain of lack of suecess. Nevertheless, ‘‘in 1879 a landed proprietor 
in Schoren [the most southerly Province of Sweden] commenced to 
raise carp in ponds; and there is a reasonable prospect that this kind 
of fish culture, if carried on rationally and cautiously, will prove 
profitable, because carp can easily stand the climate in the southern 
part of Sweden” (op. cit., p. 377). However, all attempts of King 
John III to raise carp on the island of Oeland proved futile. 
In Norway carp were, when Malmgren wrote, acclimatized in only 
two places—near Farsund, in the southernmost part of the country, 
and at Milde, near Bergen. In Russia they were said to be found in 
some of the imperial ponds near St. Petersburg and near the convent 
of Walamo, but there was no attempt at carp culture. 
These records of the northerly extension of the carp in Europe are 
of interest when we compare them with its distribution in North 
America. 
INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CARP IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
It is uncertain when the first carp were introduced into the United 
States. This may have been done at any time by private individuals, 
though if such was the case the fish were probably only kept in tanks 
or small ponds as curiosities, for it is certain that with the exception of 
their establishment in California they never gained a general distribu- 
tion or attracted much attention until their successful introduction by 
the Fish Commission in 1877. Certain early writers mention the 
presence of carp in American waters, but there can be little or no 
doubt that they have misapplied the name to some native fish. Thus, 
in the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Massachusetts 
(Massachusetts, 1866), quoting the early colonists of New England, 
occur the following lines in reference to the Connecticut River: 
In it swim salmon, sturgeon, carp, and eels, 
Above fly cranes, geese, ducks, herons, and teals. 
And again, in his history of the Fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and its 
Tributaries, McDonald (1887) takes from the diary of Col. William 
Cabell, of ‘‘ Union Hill,” Nelson County, Va., the statement: 
1769, Oct. 25: Caught 2 fine carp in our traps. 
These traps were set in the James River, and in this case at least 
we can easily see what fish may have been mistaken for the earp, since 
the so-called carp-sucker (Carpiodes cyprinus), which in a superficial 
way greatly resembles the true carp, occurs abundantly in the waters 
of that region. A much more recent case is given by Clark (1887, p. 
735), who takes from Ricketson’s History of New Bedford (Massa- 
chusetts) the statement following. 
41858, p. 403. 
