490 THE GOLD FISH. 
information on that subject, the reader is referred to the many valuablé 
works which have been written by accomplished masters of the art. : 
THOUGH not so brightly spotted as the trout, nor so desperately active 
when hooked, and very inferior in flesh, the CARP is yet in much favour with 
anglers, on account of its extreme cunning, which has earned for the fish the 
name of Fox of the waters. 
As the number of British fish 
is so great, and our space so 
small, it will be needful to com- 
press the descriptions as much 
as possible, and to omit every- 
thing that does not bear directly 
on the subject. 
The Carp is found both in 
rivers and lakes, and in some 
places, among which the royal 
palaces of France may be 
mentioned, will often grow to 
an enormous size and become 
CARP.—(Cyprinus carpio.) absurdly tame, crowding to the 
__ bank on the least encourage- 
ment, and poking their great snouts out of the water in anxious expectation 
of the desired food. It is most curious to watch these great creatures 
swimming lazily along, and to see how completely they have lost the inherent 
dread of man by the exercise of their reasoning powers, which tell them that 
the once feared biped on the bank will do them no harm, but, in all pro- 
bability, will be the means of indulging their appetite with favourite food. 
The Carp is one of the fish that retains its life for a lengthened period even 
when removed from the water, and if carefully packed in wet moss so as to 
allow a free circulation of air, will survive even for weeks Anglers never 
seem sure of the Carp—taking plenty on one day and none at all for a week 
afterwards, the fish having 
been aroused to a sense of 
their danger, and declining 
to meddle with anything 
that looks as if it might 
hide a hook. Even the 
net, that is so effectual with 
most fish, is often useless 
against the ready wiles of 
the Carp, which will some- 
times bury itself in the 
mud as the ground line 
approaches so as to allow 
the net to pass over it; 
or, if the ground be too 
hard for such a manceuvre, 
will shoot boldly from the 
bottom of the water, leap 
BARBEL.—( Cyprinus barbus.) over the upper edge of the 
GOLD-FISH.—( Cyprinus auratus.) net and so escape into the 
water beyond. 
THE beautiful GOLD-FISH (Cyprinus auratus), so familiar as a pet and so 
elegant as it moves round the glass globe in which it is usually kept, is 
another member of this large and important genus, It seems to have been 
