594 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
ing case of the way this problem was met in Lake Merced, one of the 
reservoirs for the water supply of San Francisco, is reported by Smith 
(1896, p. 895) in the paper that has already been quoted. A number 
of sea lions put into the lake apparently did the work very effici- 
ently; but unfortunately this is not a method that it is always possi- 
ble, or at least, practicable, to apply. Doctor Smith quotes Mr. 
Babcock, of the California Fish Commission, as follows: 
Carp have entered the Blue Lakes in Lake County. The Blue Lakes, three in 
number, were formerly very striking and beautiful bodies of water. A. V. La Mott 
now tells me that lower Blue Lake is so muddy that its beauty is gone, the carp 
keeping the water roiled all the time. Lake Merced, property of the Spring Valley 
Water Company, in the city and county of San Francisco, was so damaged by carp 
as to be almost useless to the company. The company employed four fishermen by 
the month to seine the lake, and during that time—some four months—bought 19 
good-sized seals [i. e., sea lions] taken near Cliff House. These seals were placed in 
Lake Merced in 1891, and for a time the company employed men to go over the lake 
to pick up the pieces of dead carp that were so numerous as to be dangerous to the 
purity of the water. In the summer of 1895, at the request and expense of the 
water company, I engaged several Italian fishermen to go to the lake, and under our 
supervision they used all kinds of drag nets and seines in the lake and were unable 
to take any carp or any other fish than sticklebacks. The seals have grown very 
thin. Another effort was made in same manner with like results in the fall of 1898. 
Tam of the opinion that there are no carp, big or little, in the lake at this time. 
The coming season the company will try again for carp, and if none is found the 
seals will ve killed off and large-mouth black bass placed in the lake. 
The planting and maintaining of large predaceous fish in waters 
where carp are objectionable will undoubtedly help to a large extent in 
keeping their numbers down, as they will prey upon the young carp. 
It is doubtful whether they will be of much effect in removing the 
iarger fish, however. 
Another point is mentioned in the above quotation which is often 
one of considerable importance, namely, the marring of the beauty of 
lakes and other bodies of clear water by carp, by keeping the water 
constantly muddy and roily. This is-a problem which is apt to be 
encountered by park commissioners, and is to be met in the same way 
as in the case of the reservoirs. In parks, however, the usefulness of 
carp as a source of interest to visitors, who take pleasure in feeding 
them, may be considered as offsetting their undesirability in other 
respects, though gold-fish are usually preferred on account of their 
more showy appearance. 
RELATION OF THE CARP TO OTHER FISH. 
Perhaps more complaint has been made against the carp by anglers © 
and commercial fishermen for its alleged destruction of other fish 
than by the sportsmen for its harmfulness to the feeding grounds of 
ducks. These complaints have come from nearly all quarters, and it 
will usually be found that they arise from a general sentiment rather 
