THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 589 
more than mudholes. That this fish burrows in the mud there is no question. The 
beds of the waters are not unlike a sieve in appearance, with holes, round in form, 
ranging from one-half inch to 3 inches in diameter. The banks of the ponds and 
sloughs are quite like the bottoms. The fish have burrowed to the depth of a foot in 
many places, and it can be readily seen that it has been done for the purpose of get- 
ting at the roots of the vegetable growth. 
That the fish which caused these disturbances were carp Mr. Wilson 
determined by sending specimens to Dr. David $8. Jordan. 
The testimony of Mr. John P. Babcock, at that time chief deputy 
of the California Fish Commission, is very similar. He is quoted 
as follows (Smith, 1896, p. 399): 
The carp have destroyed almost all the wild celery of the lower Sacramento and 
Suisun Marshes. They reach all the ponds during high water, and, as soon as celery 
comes up, they eat the shoots, and, in many of the best ponds on the shooting pre- 
serves, have taken roots and all of the celery. They have not destroyed the tule 
grass to any noticeable extent, if at all. The damage has been to the better grasses. 
Many of the clubs planted wild celery in 1891, 1892, and 18938, but the carp destroyed 
it all, and it is claimed by observing men that the celery is entirely destroyed. The 
clubs resort every season to baiting their ponds with grain, and in these ponds the 
carp move in droves that W. P. Whittier tells me look like a tidal wave, as they move 
from one side to the other. 
The most extravagant charge as to the damage done to vegetation by 
carp which I have seen is given by Prof. EK. E. Prince, commissioner 
of fisheries for Canada, in a paper discussing ‘*The Place of Carp in 
Fish-culture ” (Prince, 1897). He says (p. 33): 
In connection with this charge, a western United States paper tells of a rancher’s 
visit to Portland, Greg., to sue for damages he had sustained from the introduction 
of carp. He wished to find out whether he had recourse against the United States 
Fish Commission for the introduction of carp into the rivers of this section. He says 
these fish are destroying his meadows by eating his grass and grubbing up the roots. 
As the water overflows his meadow the carp follow it up in thousands, the small 
ones weighing about 3 pounds pushing their way up where the water is only 3 inches 
or so in depth and clearing off all vegetation, so that when the water recedes he will 
have mud flats in the place of meadows. 
This statement appears the more credible, however, in view of some 
remarks made by Doctor Hutchinson, stationed at Portland, Oreg., in 
a letter discussing the value of the carp as an eradicator of the fluke 
disease of sheep. Doctor Hutchinson says (Stiles, 1902, p. 221): 
All the bottom lands of this river [the Columbia] are subject to annual overflow, 
and at this time the carp clean the meadows as thoroughly asa fire. Every spear 
of grass, up to the very water’s edge, will be eaten by them. They also havea 
habit of rooting all around the edge of this overflow as it gradually recedes. 
Mr. Hessel, in reply to the letter from Mr. Wilson regarding the 
damage caused by carp in the Suisun Marshes (Smith, 1896, p. 400), 
states it as his opinion that the carp are in search of worms, crustacea, 
larvee, etc., when they dig about the roots of the plants, and that the 
uprooting of the plants themselves is merely incidental. According 
