28a PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



The carp which in the Italian seas was bred, 

 With shining scraps of yellow gold is fed ; 

 Though changed his form, his avarice remains, 

 And in his breast the love of lucre reigns. 



Of the groups composing the carp family generally, some 

 are to be found in greater or less abundance throughout 

 almost all the warm and temperate parts of the globe, India 

 and China producing the greatest variety, and Germany the 

 greatest number of particular species under notice. Austria 

 and Prussia especially abound with carp, which form a staple 

 commodity of traffic ; and in such request are fresh water fish 

 as articles of food in parts of these countries, that according 

 to Yarrell, an acre of water will let for as high a rent as an 

 acre of land. The carp is an inhabitant also of most of the 

 rivers and lakes of Russia and Eastern Siberia : and Valencinus 

 states that it thrives and reaches to an extraordinary size in the 

 Caspian. 



The common carp is so well known to most fishermen and 

 others as hardly to require description. It exists, either in 

 ponds or rivers, in tolerably equal distribution throughout the 

 whole of the counties of England, and in some of those of 

 Ireland and Scotland, where, however, the water appears less 

 suited to it. 



Although the carp is not unfrequently found in rivers, yet 

 stagnant water appears to be its natural element, and in ponds 

 it breeds fastest and reaches its greatest size. Large carp are 

 occasionally taken in the Thames ; and in some of its tribu- 

 taries the fish is also found in tolerable abundance, and of 

 heavy weight : of these, the Wey in Surrey contains pro- 

 bably the finest specimens, though I believe they are rarely 

 caught. 



Of all fish, the carp family generally are, perhaps, the least 

 carnivorous ; and, indeed, their teeth, which are placed in the 

 throat, are entirely unsuited for purposes of seizing or retaining 

 prey. Their food consists of soft vegetable substances, insects, 

 and occasionally of worms or grubs. Mud is often found in 



