outh America, Madagascar, Papuasia, and Australasia.
Remains of several of the existing genera have been found in Oligocene
and later beds of Europe, Sumatra and North America. One member of the
_Cyprinidae_ is at present known to be viviparous, but no observations
have as yet been made on its habits. It is a small barbel discovered in
Natal by Max Weber, and described by him under the name _Barbus
viviparus_.

The _Cyprinidae_[1] are divided into four subfamilies:--_Catostominae_
(mostly from North America, with a few species from China and eastern
Siberia), in which the maxillary bones take a share in the border of the
mouth, and the pharyngeal teeth are very numerous and form a single,
comb-like series; _Cyprininae_, the great bulk of the family, more or
less conforming to the type of the carp; _Cobitinae_, or loaches
(Europe, Asia, Abyssinia), which are dealt with in a separate article
(see LOACH); and the _Homalopterinae_ (China and south-eastern Asia),
mountain forms allied to the loaches, with a quite rudimentary
air-bladder.

For descriptions of other Cyprinids than the carp, see GOLDFISH, BARBEL,
GUDGEON, RUDD, ROACH, CHUB, DACE, MINNOW, TENCH, BREAM, BLEAK,
BITTERLING, MAHSEER.

[Illustration: The Common Carp.]

The carp itself, _Cyprinus carpio_, has a very wide distribution, having
spread, through the agency of man, over nearly the whole of Europe and a
part of North America, where it lives in lakes, ponds, canals, and
slow-running rivers with plenty of vegetation. The carp appears to be a
native of temperate Asia and perhaps also of south-eastern Europe, and
to have been introduced into other parts in the 12th and 13th century;
it was first mentioned in England in 1496. The acclimatization of the
carp in America has been a great success, especially in the northern
waters, where, the growth continuing throughout the entire year, the
fish soon attains a remarkable size. The presence of carp in Indo-China
and the Malay Archipelago is probably also to be ascribed to human
agency. In the British Isles the carp seldom reaches a length of 2-1/2
ft., and a weight of 20 lb., whilst examples of that size are quite
frequent on the continent, and others measuring 4-1/2 ft. and weighing 60
lb or more are on record. The fish is characterized by its large scales
(34 to 40 in the lateral line), its long dorsal fin, the first ray of
which is stiff and serrated, and the presence of two small barbels on
each side of the