THE GEEMAIN" CARP IN" THE UT^ITED STATES. 539 



is sviccessfully carried on, and that even in Schlcswig the people com- 

 plain of lack of success. Nevertheless, "in 18T9 a landed proprietor 

 in Schoren [the most southerly Province of Sweden] commenced to 

 raise carp in ponds; and there is a reasonable prospect that this kind 

 of lish culture, if carried on rationalh" and cautiously, will prove 

 profitable, because carp can easily stand the climate in the southern 

 part of Sweden" (op. cit., p. 377). However, all attempts of King 

 John HI to raise carp on the island of Oeland proved futile. 



In Norway carp were, when Malmgren wrote, acclimatized in only 

 two places — near Farsund, in the southernmost part of the country, 

 and at Milde, near Bergen. In Russia the}' were said to be found in 

 some of the imperial ponds near St. Petersburg and near the convent 

 of "Walamo, but there was no attempt at carp culture. 



These records of the northerh' extension of the carp in Europe are 

 of interest when we compare them with its distribution in North 

 America. 



INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CARP IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



It is uncertain when the first carp were introduced into the United 

 States. This ma}^ have been done at any time by private individuals, 

 though if such was the case the fish were probably only kept in tanks 

 or small ponds as curiosities, for it is certain that with the exceyjtion of 

 their establishment in California they never gained a general distribu- 

 tion or attracted much attention until their successful introduction by 

 the Fish Conmiission in 1S77. Certain earl}' writers mention the 

 presence of carp in American waters, but there can be little or no 

 doubt that they have misapplied the name to some native fish. Thus, 

 in the Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Massachusetts 

 (Massachusetts, 1866), quoting the earlv colonists of New England, 

 occur the following lines in reference to the Connecticut River: 



In it swim salmon, sturgeon, carp, and. eels, 

 Above fly cranes, geese, ducks, herons, and teals. 



And again, in his histor}- of the Fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and its 

 Trilmtaries, McDonald (1887) takes from the diary of Col. William 

 Cabell, of " Union Hill," Nelson County, Va., the statement: 



1769, Oct. 25: Caught 2 fine carp in our traps. 



These traps were set in the James River, and in this case at least 

 we can easily see what fish may have been mistaken for the carp, since 

 the so-called carp-sucker ( Carpiodes cyprinus)^ which in a superficial 

 waj' greatly resembles the ti'ue carp, occurs abundantl}' in the waters 

 of that region. A much more recent case is given b}' Clark (1887, p. 

 735), who takes from Ricketson's History of New Bedford'^ (Massa- 

 chusetts) the statement following. 



a 1858, p. 403. 



