176 TEE GOLDFISH 



have been wrought in form and color that some of the breeds do not 

 seem to even distantly resemble the common goldfish. That this is so 

 is often evidenced by the fact that strangers to the fancy on first seeing 

 a collection of highly developed fishes want to know what they are. An 

 amusing incident illustrating this point occurred in the preparation of the 

 present volume. An engraver who made the die for the front cover billed 

 the publishers with "One Die of Butterfly"! Those outside the fancy 

 sometimes seriously refer to the fins of fancy specimens as "wings." 

 Among fanciers a high dorsal fin is often referred to as the "sail." One 

 of the interesting side-lights on almost any fancy is the spontaneous de- 

 velopment of new words to fill special needs, and which will not filter into 

 the dictionaries for a long time. In this particular connection we are 

 reminded of the current use in the goldfish fancy of the word "finnage," 

 meaning the total area and style of the fins. One might say, "This fish 

 has beautiful color and body shape, but the finnage is poor." 



When it is borne in mind what a considerable period of time must 

 have been necessary to bring about these strange breeds, it is not sur- 

 prising that radical ideas and characteristics should, to a certain degree, 

 be expressed in them. The Telescope Goldfish was originated in China 

 and undoubtedly bears a resemblance to Chinese art. It has a sort of 

 beautiful ugliness, a deliberate grotesqueness, intended first to shock and 

 then excite curiosity. The wonderful range of colors, too, suggests the 

 art of the Chinese— that race which continues today to lead the world 

 in the clever use of color. The Japanese Fringetail Goldfish is another 

 expression of national art. It is the very embodiment of that aesthetic 

 elegance and grace so well understood by the Japanese people. America 

 has not been without its logical contribution. Here in this vast melting 

 pot it is our desire to bring forth combinations of the best from the old 

 worlds, to which is added a touch of our own individuality. Although we 

 have made several other combinations in crosses, the two most important 

 are the Veiltail Telescope and the Scaleless Fringetail. 



It is believed that the first cultivated goldfish came from Korea, that 

 country from which even ancient China borrowed ideas, education and 

 arts, but so little is known of this that we have to take our facts as we 

 now find them. That there have been and are breeds of goldfish in both 

 China and Japan which have never been exported is well attested by trav- 

 elers and by a book published in Paris in 1870, by de Sauvigny. This 

 remarkably illustrated work shows many of the varieties in color. The 

 only known copy in the United States is in the reference library of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, where it will be shown those 

 interested. The fact that several of our known breeds are correctly illus- 

 trated gives reason to believe in the drawings of the unknown varieties. 



