THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 543 
The circumstances attending the successful introduction of the 
seale carp into California, in 1872, by Mr. J. A. Poppe, of Sonoma, are 
better known. Mr. Poppe left California for Germany in the spring 
of 1872. Ata place called Reinfeld, in Holstein, he procured 83 carp 
of various ages and sizes (cf. Poppe, R. A., 1880, p. 663), the three 
largest of which were 2 feet or more in length, the smallest ‘the 
length of an ordinary steel pen.” ‘The fish were placed in 22-gallon 
tanks arranged one above the other, so that the water flowed down 
from the highest to the lowest, when it was dipped back to the top. 
These were put aboard a steamer for New York. Many of the carp 
died on the way, the larger ones going first, and only 8 reached New 
York alive. These were taken across the continent to San Francisco 
in safety, but 3 more were lost before reaching Sonoma, where Mr. 
Poppe arrived on the 5th of August, 1872, with only 5 of the smallest 
of the 83 fish with which he started. Ponds had already been pre- 
pared, and the surviving carp were placed in them at once. They did 
well from the first, and, according to Mr. Poppe in the report men- 
tioned above, they spawned the next spring, by which time they had 
reached a length of 16 inches! It was estimated that in May (1878 
there were in the ponds over 3,000 young carp. The young fish were 
sold to farmers throughout California and adjacent states, and some 
were shipped even to Honolulu and Central America. The report 
gives a list of persons in Sonoma County who undertook the culture 
of the fish, and states that at that time (presumably 1878) Los Angeles, 
San Bernardino, and the adjacent counties in the southern part of the 
state were well supplied with the fish, and reports were coming in 
from all quarters that they were doing remarkably well. 
There seems to be some question, also, as to whether the fish intro- 
duced by Mr. Poppe were a pure strain, for Professor Baird (U. 5. 
Fish Commission Report, 1879, p. *44), who examined some specimens 
that were sent to him, says: 
These are scale carp, apparently somewhat hybridized; at least, they do not pre- 
sent the characteristics of the pure breed brought by Mr. Hessel: 
He here refers to the fish introduced under the direction of the 
Fish Commission, the subject which we will now consider. 
The question of the introduction of the carp into the United States 
was taken up by the Fish Commission within a few years after the 
organization of that Bureau. The first mention of it occurs in the 
report for the years 1872 and 1873 (U. S. Fish Commission Report, 
1874, pp. Ixxvi, Ixxvii) under ‘‘ Fishes especially worthy of cultiva- 
tion.” Professor Baird, at that time Commissioner, there says: 
Sufiicient attention has not been paid in the United States to the introduction of 
the European carp as a food-fish, and yet it is quite safe to say that there is no other 
a Goode (1888, p. 417) says: ‘‘Those [carp] introduced into California a few years ago by Mr. Popp 
were an inferior strain of Scale Carp.’’ 
