VIL. 
CARP AND BREAM. 
THERE are no indigenous British carp. Carp- 
culture was once not uncommon in England 
under semi-domestic conditions, though most of the 
fish that now inhabit our ponds and rivers have 
been introduced from the Continent. The first 
mention of the carp is that by Dame Juliana 
Berners, in the “ Boke of St. Albans,” printed by 
Wynkyn de Worde, at Westminster, in 1496, 
In this it is described as a ‘deyntous fysshe, 
but scarce”—which we may well believe; for 
more than a century later Leonard Mascall takes 
to himself the credit of having introduced this fish 
into English waters. As fish stews are found in 
connection with almost every religious house 
throughout the country, and as many of these are 
specially adapted to carp-culture, doubtless these 
fish were introduced and tended by monks. The 
fish of the carp kind found most commonly in 
Britain are the Common carp (Cyprinus carpts) ; 
the Crucian or Prussian carp (Cyprinus gilelio) ; 
E 2 
