4 i 6 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
those which have been introduced into America by the Fish Commission. 
These are (i) the “ Scale Carp with regular, concentrically arranged 
scales, being in fact the original species improved. A picture of this form 
stands at the head of the chapter. 
(2.) The “King Carp” or “ Mirror Carp,” thus named on account of 
the extraordinarily large scales which run along the sides of the body in 
three or four rows, the rest of the body being bare. When there is a row 
of large scales down the back it is called the “ Saddle Carp.” 
(3.) The “Leather Carp,” which has on the back either only a few 
scales or none at all, and possesses a thick, soft skin, which feels velvety 
to the touch. 
In addition to these somewhat interchangeable varieties of the typical 
Carp there are certain other local forms which have been described as 
definite species, such as the Danube Carp, C. acuminatus , the Lake Carp, 
C. hungaricus , abundant in the Lakes of Platten and Neusiedler, an 
Italian form, C. regina and C. Nordmcinni , from Southern Russia. 
Another Carp, Carcissus vulgaris , the Karausche of Germany, often 
called the Crucian Carp or German Carp, is as protean in its forms as 
Cyprinus cctrpio itself, and probably found its way from the far East in 
much the same manner : a large-headed form, C. gibelio , is often called 
the Prussian Carp, and a specially differentiated type, C. bucephalus , lives 
only in the warm springs of Macedonia. The Gold Carp or Gold-fish is 
believed by some competent ichthyologists to be simply a variety of the 
Karausche, and when it escapes from domestication, quickly reverts to its 
ancestral form and color. The Karausche hybridizes freely with the Carp, 
