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The National Geographic Magazine 



but they are not so highly regarded or so 

 valuable as our native trouts, and the 

 demand for them is decreasing. The 

 Swiss lake trout has been handled on a 

 small scale for some years, and recently 

 has been planted in some of the Adiron- 

 dack lakes — very appropriate waters, 

 where it should prove a valuable addition 

 to the supply of game fishes. A number 

 of fine, large examples have recently been 

 caught, and the success of the plants 

 seems assured. The sea trout of Europe, 

 whose migrations to and from the rivers 

 are quite similar to those of the salmon, 

 has been under semi-domestication in 

 New England for many years, and is now 

 being cultivated in ponds at a number 

 of places. The fish are not permitted to 

 run to sea, but this enforced change of 

 habit does not appear to influence them 

 very unfavorably. As food and game 

 they have no advantages over native 

 species, and probably all that can be said 

 in their favor is that they add to the va- 

 riety of fishes useful for the stocking of 

 private preserves or lake systems. 



Other Old World fishes now very 

 familiar in this country are the gold-fisTi 

 or golden carp, the golden ide or golden 

 orfe, the tench, and the paradise-fish. 

 The gold-fish is native to China and 

 Japan, where it has been cultivated for 

 centuries, and it is now domesticated in 

 nearly every civilized country. Many 

 millions are raised annually by amateurs 

 and professionals in the United States, 

 and the money value of the gold-fish in- 

 dustry is really very great. The gold-fish 

 and the golden ide are used almost 

 wholly for ornamental purposes, al- 

 though both have in some places escaped 

 into ponds and streams and are occasion- 

 ally seen in the markets. After a few 

 generations in a wild state, the gold-fish 

 loses its bright colors and reverts to the 

 dull brown color of its Asiatic ancestors. 

 The tench is a handsome species, with 

 a rich brownish-green color and very fine 

 scales ; it is found in some numbers in 

 the Potomac and perhaps in other 

 streams, and it is now reaching the 

 Washingfton market in small quantities, 



but its sluggish habits and carpish affini- 

 ties will probably never permit it to at- 

 tain a high reputation in this country, 

 although it is esteemed in Europe, and is 

 really a first-class table fish when taken 

 from suitable waters. A pretty culti- 

 vated variety, of a bright golden-yellow 

 color, with a few round brownish-red or 

 blackish spots, is desirable for aquaria 

 and fountains. The paradise-fish, a na- 

 tive of Burma, is a small aquariam spe- 

 cies with interesting breeding habits. 



THE CARP 



The best-known, most widely distrib- 

 uted, and most important of our fish im- 

 migrants is the carp, usually called the 

 German carp, a native of Asia, but cul- 

 tivated for many centuries in Europe, 

 whence were brought to this country 

 about 30 years ago the improved varie- 

 ties — the leather carp, blue carp, and 

 mirror carp. 



The carp has received an extraordi- 

 nary amount of criticism, mostly un- 

 favorable, during recent years; no other 

 fish, in fact, has ever come in for so 

 much vituperation. In some communi- 

 ties the carp question has at times over- 

 shadowed the tariff, the trusts, and high 

 finance; and there are places where it is 

 almost as much as a man's life is worth to 

 raise his voice or lift his pen in favor of 

 this Mongolian alien. Without entering 

 into a discussion of the carp question and 

 without undertaking to make any apology 

 for the carp, it may be said that most of 

 the attacks on its reputation have been 

 unfair, and that a better knowledge of 

 the objects and results of the introduc- 

 tion of the fish into American waters 

 would greatly reduce the number of peo- 

 ple who place the carp in the same cate- 

 gory of nuisances as the English spar- 

 row. Although small numbers of carp 

 were imported by private individuals be- 

 fore the introduction and distribution of 

 the species by the general government, 

 the latter was solely responsible for the 

 present continental distribution of the 

 fish, and to it, as represented by the Na- 

 tional Fish Commission, must be ascribed 



