THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. Dis 
time of day, I obtained no very satisfactory data. Neither did I find 
~any other conditions which seemed regularly to influence their feed- 
ing. It is stated by some authors—and I have some evidence to bear 
them out—that carp feed especially in the early morning and late in 
the afternoon. But I have frequently found them feeding at all other 
times of day, even in the hot midday sun of summer. This much 
seems to be true, however, that they are usually more quiet in the 
middle of the day; one does not hear them splashing about so often. 
In the late summer, the fishermen tell me, the carp in Lake Erie, at 
least, feed mostly at night. As to the time of year, Seeley (1886, 
p. 97) says, ‘‘ Like many other fishes, it feeds most frequently before 
the spawning season.” In Europe they are said not to eat at all during 
the winter months. In this country I have reason to know that they 
do, to some extent, at least. 
BREEDING HABITS. 
In Europe the carp is said to spawn principally in May and June, 
though in some cases the process extends several weeks longer. As 
well as I can ascertain, the same statement holds for the northern 
United States. In our Southern States and California spawning is 
apparently earlier, often beginning in April. In the waters contigu- 
ous to Lake Erie the height of the spawning season seems to be in the 
‘latter part of May and early June. On the St. Clair Flats I believe 
it is usually a little later on account of the lower temperature of the 
water, which comes directly down from Lake Huron. This tempera- 
ture difference affects the time of spawning of the bass, dog-fish (Ama), 
and other shallow-water spawners as well, for I have found the eggs of 
these fish at the Flats when the season for them was entirely past in 
the interior lakes and rivers of the state. 
The age at which carp spawn also depends largely upon the tempera- 
ture. European authors state that they reach maturity in the waters 
of temperate Europe when they are 3 years of age, and the same 
probably holds true in general for the corresponding region in North 
America, though apparently they sometimes spawn, at least in the lati- 
tude of New Jersey, when they are only 2 years old (cf. statement of 
John H. Brakeley, Bordentown, N. J., Smiley, 1886, p. 757). Judging 
from other statements quoted in the same report, they commonly breed 
at the age of 2 years in the South (where they do not hibernate in the 
winter), and according to Mr. Poppe, of California (Poppe, 1880, p. 
664), his fish spawned when they were only 9 months old. At the 
time of first spawning the fish will usually weigh 3 or 4 pounds and 
have a length of 15 to 18 inches. 
At the spawning season, but before the fish have spawned, the 
females can usually be readily distinguished by their distended condi- 
tion. Though the ova themselves are rather small, the number is 
