THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 583 



tish. It is a coniinon statement, too, in books on the subject, tliat 

 frogs are very destructive to the spawn and even to the young fish." 

 Walton (1901 ed., p. 115) even believes that frogs sometimes attack 

 the adult carp, and after speaking of the mj'sterious disappearance of 

 carp from ponds, i-elates the following curious story in defense of his 

 belief:^ 



And the like I have known of one that had ahnost watched the pond, and, at a 

 like distance of time, at the tii^hing of a jjond, found, of seventy or eighty large Carps, 

 not above five or six; and that he had forborne longer to fish the said pond, but that 

 he saw, in a hot day in summer, a large Carp swim near the top of the water with a 

 frog upon his head; and that he, upon that occasion, caused his pond to be let dry: 

 and I say, of seventy or eighty Carps, only found five or six in the said pond, and 

 those very sick and lean, and with every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the 

 said Carps, that the frog would not be got off without extreme force or killing. And 

 the gentleman that did affirm this to me, told me he saw it; and did declare his 

 belief to be, and I also believe the same, that he thought the other Carps, that were 

 so strangely lost, were also killed by the frogs, and then devoured. 



And a person of honour, now living in Worcestershire, <' assured me he had seen a 

 necklace, or collar of tadpoles, hang like a chain or necklace of beads about a Pike's 

 neck, and to kill him: Whether it were for meat or malice, must be, to me, a question. <^ 



Among the other enemies to the young may be mentioned all the 

 larger carnivorous fishes, turtles, water snakes, certain aquatic birds, 

 especially the herons, and a- few of the fish -eating mammals. Of the 

 mammals, the only one that has to be especially guarded against in 

 the ponds of this region is the muskrat, and that not because of any 

 harm it does directly to the fish, but from the fact that it burrows 

 through the embankments, causing leaks which may seriously lower 

 the water level before discovered, and weaken the embankments 

 themselves. Undoubtedly^ there must also be included among the 

 enemies to the fish certain waterbugs, such as Belodoma (commonly 

 known as the " electric-light bug") and Ranafra. An account of the 

 ravages of these insects is given by Dimmock (1887), who quotes (page 

 60) the following letter, dated December 16, 1886, from Mr. E. A. 

 Brackett, of Winchester, Mass. chairman of the Commission of Inland 

 Fisheries of Massachusetts: 



In October last, while drawing off the carp-pond, the water became very roily, 

 'and I noticed several young carp moving on the surface, side wise, evidently pro- 



aMiss Mary C. Dickerson, of the Rhode Island Normal School, who has had much experience in 

 keeping and observing our native frogs, has kindly sent me the following opinion as to the extent to 

 which the North American species of frogs might prove injurious to fish ponds: 



" Frogs would prove a menace to fish ponds, i. e., if in large numbers and if they were the aquatic 

 frogs. We have only one in the East that would do any damage, that is R. catesbiana, our common 

 bullfrog, although there is one other, R. clamata, that will feed on fish to some extent if there is not 

 a larse supply of air and surface-water insects. In the West R. pretiosa is wholly aquatic, i. e., it 

 takes its food from under water. All of our other frogs (some 9 kind.s) would be quite harmless. 

 They spend very little of their time in the water and do not take food from below the surface. My 

 conclusions are from several years of laboratory feeding experiments." 



&In a j)aper which has appeared while the present report was in press Gill (1905, pp. 208, 209) quotes 

 from other observations, vvhich lend further credence to the belief that frogs, and toads as well, 

 under the influence of sexual excitement, may attach themselves to fish in the manner described. 



<■ " Mr. Fr. Ru." [Walton's original footnote.] 



d Day (1880-1884, p. 162) quotes another and similar case from Pennant. 



