LECTURE VIIL 
71 
out of the water in order to avoid the rapacity of 
the larger fishes, and springing with expanded fins 
to the distance of about an hundred yards, and at 
the height of about three feet above the surface 
of the water, after which it is again obliged to 
plunge; its fins growing dry, and unable to sup- 
port it any farther. The other species are chiefly 
natives of the Indian seas. 
Tlie Carp-Tribe, forming the genus Cyprinus^ 
has for its character, a small mouth without 
teeth, which are placed at the entrance into the 
stomach ; an oval oblong body, and, in general, 
a single back-fin. As an example of this genus 
I shall only mention the beautiful species called 
the Gold-Fish, which, as every one knows, is ori- 
ginally a native of China, from whence it has 
been gradually introduced into many parts of 
Europe; into England (if I mistake not) about 
the year 169I, but did not become common till 
about the year 1728 , when a great many were 
brought over by Sir Matthew Decker, and by his 
means dispersed throughout the kingdom. Like 
the rest of the Carp tribe they are very long-lived, 
and are said to last above a century. As to the 
