COMMON CARP. S07 



King Henry the Eighth in 1532, various entries are made 

 of rewards to persons for bringing " Carpes to the King."* 

 The old couplet is certainly erroneous, which says, — 



" Turkies, Carps, Hops, Pickerell, and Beer, 

 Came into England all in one year." 



Pike or Pickerell were the subject of legal regulations in the 



reign of Edward the First. Carp are mentioned in the Boke 



of St. Albans, printed in 1496; Turkies and Hops were 



unknown till 1524, previous to which wormwood and other 



bitter plants were used to preserve beer, and the Parliament 



in 1528 petitioned against hops, as a wicked weed. Beer 



was licensed for exportation by Henry the Seventh in 1492, 



and an excise on beer existed as early as 1284, also in the 



reign of Edward the First. 



In this country the Carp inhabits ponds, lakes, and 



rivers ; preferring in the latter those parts where the current 



is not too strong, and thriving best on soft marly or muddy 



bottoms. They are very prolific, breeding much more freely 



iii lakes and ponds than in rivers. Bloch found six hundred 



thousand ova in the roe of a female of nine pounds weight, 



and Schneider seven hundred thousand in a fish of ten 



pounds weight. They spawn towards the end of May 



or the beginning of June, depending on the temperature 



of the water and the season ; and the ova are deposited 



upon weeds, among which the female is followed by two 



or three males, and the fecundation of a large proportion 



of the ova is by this provision of nature effectually secured ; 



but they both breed and grow much more freely in some 



waters than in others, without any apparent or accountable 



cause. But few Carp exist even in preserved waters in 



Scotland, and these breed but slowly, and in some instances 



not at all. 



* Pickering's splendid edition of Walton, page 207, note. 



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