THE GERMAN CARP IN. THE UNITED STATES. Es) 
carp and greatly reduces the danger is the short time required for 
the development of the eggs and the rapid growth of the young fish, 
which quickly takes a boed the stage where they can be ed 
upon by any but the larger of their enemies. 
The general manner of the breeding of the carp is well known, but, 
so far as I am aware, the exact method has never been studied in all its 
details. This I coanake an exceedingly difficult thing to do in the open 
waters, where the opportunity to observe the proceeding is very 
largely a matter of chance. It is net so hard to find places where the 
fish are spawning, but the difficulty comes in getting close enough at 
the right time to see what takes place, and to have the water clear 
enough to see into when once close. These conditions I have never 
had the good fortune to have fulfilled, largely because the greater part 
of my work in the field has been after the spawning season of the carp 
was past. It is stated by many writers that at the time of spawning 
carp are so fearless, or at least so oblivious, that a person may approach 
very close to them and that they may then be easily captured (Hessel, 
1881, p. 872). But I have always found even the breeding fish very 
shy. The place to make a careful study of the breeding habits would 
undoubtedly be in a moderately small pond, where the fish are con- 
fined to a limited area, and where they have become more cr less accus- 
tomed to the presence of people in the vicinity. In the following 
description I shall rely for the most part upon my own observations, 
amplifying them where | can with the observations of others. 
As is the case with the feeding, I could not ascertain that the spawn- 
ing of the carp is confined to any particular time of day, though it 
apparently takes place more frequently in the morning hours. Hessel 
remarks that it is more frequent in warm than in windy and rainy 
weather, which agrees very well with my observations. At such times 
groups of fish may be seen swimming about at the surface, usually 
close together in a compact mass. In the marshes along the Sandusky 
River, where the best of my observations were made, the fish were in 
shallow water, one to two feet deep, and pretty well grown up with 
aquatic grasses, sedges, and flags, but with numerous open places from 
a few feet to a few rods in tigen. where the vegetation was not so 
abundant. The bottom was fairly solid, being composed of the roots 
of the plants and much dead grass. In these open places especially 
the carp could be seen, usually swimming slowly about with their dor- 
sal fins and often a portion of the Peck. projecting above the water. 
These also seemed to be the favorite places for depositmg the spawn, 
though much is also deposited about among the thicker growth. 
The spawning carp would usually be seen in groups consisting of 
one larger fish in the lead anda number of smaller ones following 
closely behind, making sometimes a string of six or seven fish in line, 
as is shown in the first figure on the next page. It is probable that 
