was assured by a clergyman, a friend of his, that at the Abbey of St.
Bernard, near Antwerp, he saw a Carp come to the edge of the water to be
fed, at the whistle of the person who fed it. The Carp at Fontainebleau,
inhabiting the lake adjoining the Imperial Palace, are of great size,
and manifest a curious instinct. A Correspondent of the "Athenæum"
remarks:--
"Enjoying entire immunity from all angling arts and lures, the
Fontainebleau Carp live a life of great enjoyment, marred only, we
imagine, by their immense numbers causing the supply of food to be
somewhat below their requirements. It is not, however, very easy to
define what a Carp's requirements in the form of pabulum are, as he
is a voracious member of the ichthyological family, eating whenever
he has an opportunity until absolutely surfeited. His favourite
food consists of vegetable substances masticated by means of flat
striated teeth, which work with a millstone kind of motion against
a singular process of the lower part of the skull covered with
horny plates. When this fish obtains an abundant supply of food it
grows to an enormous size. Several continental rivers and lakes
are very congenial to Carp, and especially the Oder, where this
fish occasionally attains the enormous weight of 60 lb. It is not
probable that any Carp in the lake at Fontainebleau are so large as
this; but there are certainly many weighing 50 lb., patriarchs of
their kind, which, though olive-hued in their tender years, are now
white with age. That the great size of these fish is due to ample
feeding is, we think, evident, and, as we shall see presently, it
is the large fish that are the best fed. During many years the
feeding of the Carp at Fontainebleau has been a favourite Court
pastime. But it is from the visitors who frequent Fontainebleau
during a great part of the year that the Carp receive their
most bountiful rations. For big Carp have an enormous swallow,
soft penny rolls being mere mouthfuls, bolted with ostrich-like
celerity. So to prevent the immediate disappearance of these
_bonnes bouches_, bread, in the form of larger balls than the most
capacious Carp can take into his gullet, is baked until it becomes
as hard as biscuit, and with these balls the Carp are regailed.
Throw one into the lake, and you will quickly have an idea of the
enormous Carp population it contains. For no sooner does the bread
touch the water than it is surrounded by hundreds of these fish,
which dart to it from all sides. And now, if you look attentively,
you will witness a curious display of instinct, which might almost
take a higher name. Conscious, apparently, of their inability to
crush these extremely hard balls, the Carp combine with surprising
unanimity to push them to that part of the lake with their noses
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