530 C Y P R 
land; rn.it Dr. Schajpf thinks them a different fpecies. 
in the lake of Seclubd, a league from Prenflow, a carp 
ivas taken, in 1731, two ells and three quarters long, and 
.weighing ^filbs. The carp (as well as the bream) is 
fubjett to the dropfy. The carp was introduced into 
Pruffia in the fixteenth century. However ftrange it 
may appear, there are hermaphrodites among the carp. 
Bloch defcribes the parts of one which he preferved in 
his collection. The ovary is double, as ufual, with this 
difference, that one of the facs is divided in the middle 
by the fmelt, which is therein contained ; fo that it is 
bounded above and below by the eggs, which are green- 
iffi ; the fmelt, on the contrary, is fingle; yet it has a little 
lump at the under extremity, and is double the ufual 
thicknefs; the reft of the intedines preferve their ordi¬ 
nary form and fituation. Our countryman, Tull, intro- 
-duced a mode of caftrating carps to make them grow fat; 
and the operation is fo fafe, that of 200 hardly four will 
die. The method is as follows: They open the belly 
of the fifh, which they fow up again by degrees as they 
draw out the ova or the fmelts. “ What cruelty (fays 
Bloch) do men exercife againft helplefs animals, to fa- 
tisfy their gluttony!” 
A pond for breeding carp (hould be difpofed in fuch 
a manner that in any feafon it may be fpeedily furnifhed 
with a fufficient quantity of water, or entirely drained 
when needful. Therefore marflies or hollow places are 
preferred, which are covered with ruflies and reeds; alfo 
near meadows and paftureS, but which are too low and 
rnarlhy to produce good hay. The places (hould be dug 
away doping, that the waters may eafily run into the 
pond, and be drawn off the fame way when there is oc- 
cafion. The mode of drawing the water off is by a pen- 
ffop, which opens and fhuts at will. The pond fhould 
lie towards the eaft or the weft, that the fun may have 
full power to hatch the fpawn; and no trees (hould be 
in the way, particularly the elder, whofe leaves drop¬ 
ping into the water would be hurtful to the fi(h. Frogs 
if podible (hould be previoufly deftroyed, as they devour 
the fpawn; the fame precaution muff be taken as to 
ducks, who are very greedy of the fpawn of fiffies. For 
breeding, choofe carps of fix years old, ftrong, large, 
whofe backs are black, bellies large, and oppoiing firm 
refiftance to the preffure of the finger : however, fiffi of 
feven, eight, or even twelve, years old, may be ufed ; 
and fome are of opinion that they fliould not be put into 
the breeding pond till the middle of June, when the wa¬ 
ter is fufficiently warm. Two or three males to one fe¬ 
male fliould be put in, according to the lize of the pond; 
and twelve is the proportion for a pond of one acre. 
In July and Auguft, the carps feek their food near the 
edges of the pond ; at this time water (hould not be dip¬ 
ped out of the pond, nor fliould fheep, horfes, or cows, 
be fuffered to drink there, as their noife frightens the 
fifh, and hinders them from breeding and fattening: yet 
drinking places for cattle might be contrived, as their 
dung, being waffled into the pond, furnifhes excellent 
nourifhment for the carp. If the farm-yard is near to 
the pond, drains might be made to carry the moifture 
into it, and even from the kitchen. Winter is the time 
when carp require the mod care for their prefervation, 
particularly left they fliould be fmothered under the ice 
for want of air. When the pond is frozen over, draw off 
fome of the water, in order to leave fufficient room for 
air between the water and the ice. Holes made in the 
ice, and ruflies or draw put into them, will be fufficient 
if the cold be not very intenfe ; but thefe holes fliould 
not be made over the deepeft places; as this would dif- 
tu.b the fifh in their winter retreat; for, as foon as the 
pond begins to freeze, they feek the deepeft places, where 
they make holes, and prefs as clofe to each other as her¬ 
rings in a barrel, and thus they will deep away the win¬ 
ter without any nourifliment whatever ; and it is ob- 
ferved, that, during fo long a faft, a large carp will not 
lole above a quarter of a pound in weight. It is obferved 
I N U S. 
that after thunder thefe fiflies are apt to die : to prevent 
this, immediately after a violent florin of thunder fall¬ 
ing over the pond, draw off the water, and give them a 
frefli fupply. 
Carps are fubjeft alfo to fome difeafes, as the fmall- 
pox, which confifts in puftules between the fcales and 
the (kin, and is feldom fatal ; another diforder is often 
fatal, which (hews itfelf in little excrefcences looking 
like mofs; they are vifiblc on the head and all along the 
back. This ailment iscaufed bycorrupted waters brought 
down by great rains ; the remedy is to change or renew 
the water in . the pond. The carps are difordered alfo 
when a hidden thaw' caufes a great deal of fnow-water 
to run into the pond : to prevent this, the pond fliould 
be furrounded by a ditch or hollow' place that may re¬ 
ceive the fnow-water, and in great rains and inundations 
prevent the lofs of the carps which may be waflied over 
the banks of the pond. 
There are two varieties of the common carp. Thefirft 
is, Rex cyprinorum, the king of the carps. In this beau¬ 
tiful variety, the fcales are four times as large as in the 
common carp, but they cover only a part of the body, 
the reft being bare: thefe fcales are fometimes an inch 
and a half broad ; commonly they are in two rows, one 
parallel with the back, the other with the lateral line. 
The belly is alfo covered w'ith fcales, but thefe are not 
in a (trait line, like the others. Thefe fcales are radi¬ 
ated ; they are yellow edged with brown, and not fo 
ftrongly attached to the body as the fcales of the other 
fpecies; for they are often loft in catching the fi(h. The 
fkin of the bare part is much harder than that part which 
is covered : the former is black, the latter yellow. This 
fifh abounds in Anhalt, Torgau, at Drefden, in Franco¬ 
nia, and in Bohemia, where they breed them in ponds. 
It grows to a conflderable fize, and is better tailed than 
the common carp. The ancients knew nothing of this 
fifh. Bloch fays it was firft deferibed by Jonfton, un¬ 
der the name of royal-carp. “ The patfage where he 
does fo (fays Beckman) I cannot find; but, in plate 
xxix. there is a bad engraving, with the title Jpiegel-kar~ 
pen, which, however, has fcales all over the body, and 
cannot be the kind alluded to. On the other hand, the 
fpiegel-karpen are mentioned by Gefncr, who, as appears, 
never faw them. In my opinion, Balbinus, who wrote in 
the middle of the fixteenth century, was the firft perfon 
who gave a true and complete defeription of them ; and, 
according to his account, they feem to have come origi¬ 
nally from Bohemia. The firft corredt figure of them is 
to be found in Marfigli.” Linnaeus, in the Jixtfi edition 
of his Syjlema, fpeaks of it by the name of rex cyprinorum , 
regarding it as a diftindt fpecies; but Gmelin has now 
clalfed it only as a variety of the common carp. This 
being a very rare and curious fifh, we have given an exadl 
figure of it from the fuperb drawings of M. E. Bloch, 
The fecond variety was firft obferved by Lawen; it 
was found in a pond in the lordfhip of Wufchen in Si- 
lefia; totally without fcales. Bloch makes it a diftinfl 
fpecies, calling it Cyprinus nudus, the naked carp. The 
(kin is brown and leathery. In other refpedts it agrees 
with the common carp, and is as well tafted. It is found 
in feveral parts of Silefta, particularly at Breflau, where 
it is called Uderkarpfen ; Bloch calls it alfo carpe a cuir, 
which fignifies the fame thing, leathery carp. There is 
another variety, in the fame ftreams, with a few fcales $ 
but, as the fir ft variety is found there alfo, it is probable 
this may be a mule-fifti got between the queen of the 
carps and the leathery carp. 
2. Cyprinus barbus, the barbel. This filh is a native 
of the fouthern parts of Europe ; and is diftinguiftied 
from the other fpecies by the upper jaw protruding con- 
fiderably beyond the lower, and the two barbies on each 
fide of the mouth ; fecond ray of the dorfal fin ferrate 
on each fide. The pedforal fins have feventeen rays, the 
ventral nine, the anal eight, the tail nineteen, the dorfal 
twelve. The barbel, from the length of its body, re- 
fembles 
