The carp is a very handsome fish, being olive brown above, with a tinge of gold, while the lower parts are yellowish white. It sometimes weighs as much as twenty-five pounds, and has been known to lay more than 700,000 eggs! It is domesticated in many parts of North America and other countries. THE BARBEL Found in many Old World rivers, the barbel may be known at once by the four long fleshy organs which hang down from the nose and the corners of the mouth. These organs are called barbules, and may possibly be of some help to the fish when it is grubbing in the soft mud in search of the small creatures upon which it feeds. It spends hours in doing this, and a hungry barbel is sometimes so much occupied in its task that a swimmer has dived down to the bottom of the river and caught it with his hands. From this curious way of feeding, and its great greediness, the barbel has sometimes been called the fresh-water pig. In color this fish is greenish brown above, yellowish green on the sides of the body, and white underneath. When fully grown it weighs from ten to twelve pounds. THE ROACH This is one of the prettiest of the European fresh-water fishes, which is found in many lakes and streams. The upper part of the head and back are grayish green, with a kind of blue gloss, which gradually becomes paler on the sides till it passes into the silvery white of the lower surface. The fins and the tail are bright red. The roach does not grow to a very great size, for it seldom weighs more than two pounds. It lives in large shoals, and in clear water several hundred may often be seen swimming about together. THE PIKE One of the largest and quite the fiercest of the British fresh-water fishes is the pike, which is found both in lakes and rivers. In America we have no pike proper, but in some of the great western lakes a very large relative of similar habits known as the maskinonge; and our pickerels are only small pikes. Wonderful tales are told of the ferocity of the pike. He does not seem to know what fear is, and his muscular power is so great, and the rows of teeth with which his jaws are furnished are so sharp and strong, that he is really a most formidable foe. All other fresh-water fishes are afraid of him, while he gobbles up water-birds of all kinds, and water-mice, and frogs, and even worms and insects. And no matter how much food he eats, he never seems to be satisfied. When the pike is hungry, he generally hides under an overhanging bank, or among weeds, and there waits for his victims to pass by.