428 T'isainc iy AMERICAN WATERS. 
SECOND CLASS OF FISHES. 
SOFT-RAYED BONY FISES. (Malacopterygii. ) 
Scale of Inches. 
p Famity.—1. Golden Carp, or Goldfish, Cyprinus auratus. 2. The Roach, 
s rutilus. 8. The Loach, or Beardie, Cobitis barbatula. 4. The Tench, Tin- 
ea vulgaris. 5. The Barbel, Barbus vulgaris. 6. New York Shiner, Cyprinus eryso- 
leucas. 7. Common Carp, Cyprinus carpis. 8. Common New York Sucker, Catosto- 
mus communis. 
FISHES WITH ABDOMINAL VENTRAL FINS. 
The carps may be placed at the head of the soft-rayed di- 
vision. They are the least carnivorous of all fishes, and em- 
brace, besides the common carp and its kindred, the several 
species of the barbel, the gudgeon, the tench, the roach, the 
dace and shiners, the minnows, the loach, and the American 
suckers. They are the most abundant fish in the fresh-water 
streams of Europe and America. 
The carp, tench, roach, and kindred fishes are said by the 
Abbé Dom Pinchon—the original fecundator and hatcher of 
fishes by artificial means—to be the most profitable to stock 
ponds with ; and unless they should become so numerous as 
not to find sufficient feed, introduce a few pickerel or perch. 
