166 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



the detestation of the Trout bottom-angler, constantly nibbling away 

 his bait, and tantalizing him with vain hopes of a bite. 



Of this family, therefore, so far as the true American genera are 

 concerned, no notice need be taken in a sporting work, except as re- 

 lates to two or three little fishes, to which I shall devote a few lines 

 each, as being excellent bait for all the larger and bolder fishes. 



Within the last few years, however, two European varieties have 

 been introduced, and have become entirely naturalized in some of our 

 waters. The Gold Carp, Cyprinus Auratus of Linnaeus and Cuvier, 

 or common Gold and Silver fish of China, in the Schuylkill, and in 

 some streams of Massachusetts, and the Common Carp of Europe, 

 whose title stands at the head of this paper, in the Hudson, especially 

 in the vicinity of Newburgh. 



The former of these little fish is, indeed, unworthy of notice, except 

 as an ornamental fish, to be kept in garden tanks and fountains ; but 

 the other being much, though I must confess in my opinion unde- 

 servedly, esteemed in Europe, and having been deemed worthy of le- 

 gislative enactments for his protection, by the State of New York, I 

 shall proceed to describe as a species, which, within a year or two at 

 the farthest, will come within the American angler's list of game. 



The mode of this fish's introduction into American waters, is as fol- 

 lows : — Captain Robinson, who has a fine place immediately on the 

 banks of the Hudson river, containing some fine fish ponds, between 

 Newburgh and New Windsor, imported some years since a quantity 

 of Carp at considerable expense, I believe from Holland, where the 

 species is very abundant and very fine in quality. His ponds were 

 soon admirably stocked ; but in process of time a heavy freshet 

 carried away his dams and flood-gates, and a very large proportion o* 

 his Carp escaped into the Hudson. This fact being represented to. 

 the Legislature of the State, a penal enactment was passed, heavily 

 mulcting any person who should take any one of these Hudson river 

 Carp, at any season or under any circumstances, until after the expi- 

 ration of five years from the passage of the act. 



The provisions of this bill have been strictly enforced ; several per* 

 Bons have been fined, and the fish is now extremely abundant. 



I cannot here, in relating these circumstances, control myself, but 



