THE CARP. 239 



Cyprinus in Latin and K.wrplvos in Greek being, of course, 

 one and the same word. There are three distinct reasons, 

 I gather from Dr. Badham, for presuming the identity of 

 the ancient Cyprinus with that of our common carp. The 

 first is the statement of Aristotle, that the Cyprinus " has 

 no tongue, but a soft fleshy palate strongly resembling 

 one ; " and certainly the " fleshy palate " of the common 

 carp is a distinguishing feature of this fish, though shared 

 in a degree by other of the Cyprinidce ; and it has given 

 currency all over the world to the common though incor- 

 rect expression, a " carp's tongue." The second is that 

 the Cyprinus is especially called "scaly" by ancient 

 authors, that is, " scaly " par excellence ; and it is a fact 

 that our common carp is distinguished above all other 

 fish of his size for the largeness of his scales. The third 

 point of identity is, that the possessors of both names 

 have obtained an equal celebrity for their fecundity ; our 

 own carp being a noted breeder, while the Cyprinus, 

 according to Oppian, spawns five, and according to Aris- 

 totle, not less than six, times a year. There must be 

 some exaggeration here; but I believe that naturalists 

 agree in stating that our common carp spawns more than 

 once in the twelve months. It is said that a three-year- 

 old fish will produce as many as 700,000 eggs in the 

 course of the year; and it is a fact that the roe, when 

 extracted, will sometimes turn the scale against the rest 

 of the fish. 



And this matter of the fecundity of the carp naturally 

 brings on the inevitable etymological discussion as to the 

 origin and meaning of the word Cyprinus — or, as we had 

 better take it in its Greek form, Kvprinos, for it has been 

 suggested that this word is only the adjective form of 



