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Show 472 LORD A. RtSSELL ON THE COMMON CARP. [May 20, regarding these birds it is impossible to make any generalizations of importance; and I will leave the subject for a special paper on the order. It is not until the different conditions of the carotid vessels are taken in connexion with the pterylosis, as well as the anatomy of the viscera and muscles, that a correct idea can be formed as to their true value in the classification of birds. The work of the illustrious Nitzsch assists much in this direction ; and it is to be hoped that as facts become more numerous, ornithologists will realize that a correct arrangement will not be arrived at until anatomy is more thoroughly studied. In conclusion, I have to present m y best thanks to Mr. Sclater for the kind way in which he has on all occasions throughout this inquiry assisted me with suggestions and advice - also to Prof. Flower, Mr. O. Salvin, Mr. Sharpe, and Mr. Howard Saunders, for their so willingly putting at my disposal specimens in spirit of species which I should not otherwise have had the opportunity of examining. May 20, 1873. Dr. E. Hamilton, V.P., in the Chair. Lord Arthur Russell, M.P., F.Z.S., exhibited a very young specimen of the scaleless variety of the Common Carp. He said that, like all animals that are bred in captivity, carp are apt to vary in form and colour. In Germany, where much attention is given to fish-ponds on all large estates, the varieties of the carp are more numerous than in other countries, and have been described by Bloch, Heckel, and other ichthyologists as distinct species. One of the most remarkable of the constant varieties of the carp was the one known as " Spiegelkarpfen " (Cyprinus rex, cyprinorum, specularis sive macrolepidotus). In this variety, which is exceedingly fine, the scales only persist along tbe line of the back and on the sides of the fish in two or three irregular rows. These few remaining scales attain a great development; the rest of the body is naked. Specimens in which the scales only remain along the dorsal line go by the name of Saddle-carp among German fishermen. Occasionally the scales are wanting altogether, and the Carp is covered with a leathery skin, and is popularly called " Lederkarpfen" or Leather-carp. This variety has been described as a distinct species (C. nudus and C. coriaceus), and is named by Agassiz Cyp. alepidotus. Heckel ('Austrian Ichthyology,' p. 58) and other authors believe the total loss of scales to be an effect of age on single specimens of tbe Spiegel-carp variety in which the number of scales was already reduced to a minimum ; and the only interest of the little specimen Lord A. Russell had brought with him was that it showed C. nudus to be a constant variety, without scales from its birth. All these varieties are considered better for the table than the common Carp, and command a higher price in the German fish-market. The |