190 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
day ; Sweden has them only in the ponds of' the people of 
fashion ; Polish Prusia is the chief seat of the carp ; they 
abound in the rivers and lakes of that country, particularly 
in the Frisch in Curisch-haff, where they are taken of a 
vast size. They are there a great article of commerce, and 
sent in well-boats to Sweden and Russia. Hie merchants 
purchase them out of the waters of the noblesse of the 
country, who draw a good revenue from this article. Neither 
are there wanting among our gentry instances of some who 
make good profit of their ponds. 
The ancients do not separate the carp from the sea-fish. 
We are credibly informed that they are sometimes found in 
the harbour of Dantzic, between the town and a small 
place called Hela. 
Carp are very long lived. Gessner brings an instance of 
one that was an hundred years old. They also grow to a 
very great size. On our own knowledge we can speak of 
none that exceed twenty pounds in weight; but Jovius says, 
that they were sometimes taken in the Lacus Larius (the 
Lago di Como) of two hundred pounds weight ; and 
Rzaczynski mentions others taken in the Dneister that were 
five feet in length. 
The carp is a prodigious breeder: its quantity of roe has 
been found so great, that when taken out and weighed 
against the fish itself, the former has been found to pre- 
ponderate. From the spawn of this fish caviare is made 
for the Jews, who hold the sturgeon in abhorrence. 
These fish are extremely cunning, and on that account 
are by some styled the river fox. They will sometimes 
leap over the nets, and escape that way ; at others, will im- 
merse themselves so deep in the mud, as to let the net pass 
over them. They are also very shy of taking a bait; yet 
at the spawning time they are so simple, as to suffer them- 
selves to be tickled, and caught by any body that will 
attempt it. 
This fish is apt to mix its milt with the roe of other fish, 
from which is produced a spurious breed ; we have seen 
the offspring of the carp and tench, which bore the greatest 
resemblance to the first : have also heard of the same mix- 
ture between the carp and the bream. 
The carp is of a thick shape : the scales very large, and 
when in best seasom of a fine gilded hue. 
The jaws are of equal length; there are two teeth in the 
jaws, or on the tongue ; but at the entrance of the gullet, 
above and below, are certain bones that act on each other 
and comminute the food before it passes down. 
