i8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



the fancier can scarcely discern with 

 the use of a reading" glass. 



Expert judges distinguish between 

 these forms of protruding eyes, consid- 

 ering the globular or spheroidal form 

 of less merit than 'the segmented 

 sphere ; the ovoid form as next mer- 

 itorious, and the truncated cone as the 

 highest developed and most desirable 

 form of eye-ball. The greater their 

 size and their relative uniformity, to- 

 gether with perfection of development, 

 colors and distinct outlining of the 

 pupils and i rides, the more highly 

 prized the specimens, the more rare- 

 ly they are to be obtained, and the 

 greater their monetary value. 



Plow considerable this may be it is 

 not of purpose here to state, but one 

 fancier in Philadelphia at one time had 

 over five hundred dollars invested in 

 goldfish marvels, not more than twenty 

 in number. These were not fanciful 

 or fictitious valuations, but actual com- 

 mercial values, governed as much by 

 supply and demand as the values of 

 other highly developed and greatly de- 

 sired household pets. The illustration, 

 a fine Chinese Celestial Goldfish 

 taken with permission from "Goldfish 

 Breeds and Other Aquarium" Fishes" 

 is an exact portrait of one of these 

 fishes, in the writers opinion, not the 

 gem of the collection. 



The globular is the general eye 

 form of the scaled Telescope goldfish, 

 common in China, introduced into 

 Japan subsequent to the Chinese-Jap- 

 anese War, and now quite generally 

 bred in the United States. The seg- 

 mented sphere and the ovoid forms of 

 protruding eyes are the desired char- 

 acteristics of the transparently-scaled 

 Telescope goldfish, derived directly 

 from China. The truncated cone form 

 of eye is the distinguishing char- 

 acteristic of the finest-breed Moor, or 

 Black Chinese Telescope goldfish, of 

 which some remarkable soecimens have 

 been owned in Philadelphia. Captain 

 Mayer, of the Imperial German Navy, 

 informed the writer that a Chinese 

 Prince at Amoy, China, had thousands 

 of these fishes in his parks, but with 

 all the influence that could be brought 

 to bear through the German consul 



at that Port, he could not obtain per- 

 mission to inspect them. 



Still another form of highly-develop- 

 ed eye-ball is that of the Celestial Tel- 

 escope goldfish. Almost entirely pro- 

 truding from the orbit this eye is larger 

 in its equatorial than in its axial diam- 

 eter and has an extremely small 

 pupil directed upward, so that the gaze 

 of the fish is always to the surface of 

 the water. Protruding almost at right- 

 angles from the sockets, the eyes are 

 nearly rigid and the muscular control 

 of the bulbus scarcely perceptible. 

 In these monstrosities the eye develop- 

 ment is so extremely abnormal as to 

 have produced an almost blinded fish. 



Early travelers mention that this 

 form of eye was produced by hatching 

 Dragon-eyed goldfishes in a jar having 

 a lid in which there is a slit, and that 

 the upward trend of the eye is due to 

 the fixed upward gaze of the fish, for 

 both light and food. 



This assertion lacks positive confir- 

 mation by recent travelers in China and 

 Corea and like much else stated of the 

 Orient may only be based on tradition 

 or hearsay evidence. Experts in gold- 

 fish culture are not willing to believe 

 that goldfishes can be reared in basins 

 from which abundant daylight is ex- 

 cluded, or in which the water is not 

 aerated by a plentiful growth of aqua- 

 tic plants ; which latter cannot be done 

 except in the presence of both day- 

 light and sunlight. 



Wooden-Framed Household Aquaria. 

 BY M. R. LIPPINCOTT, Coi.IJXOSWoolt, X. J. 



In advocating w r ooden-framed aquaria, 

 the writer wishes to prove that, not- 

 withstanding the many statements to 

 the contrary, it is not only possible 

 but practicable to construct large- 

 sized aquarium frames of wood. He 

 does not wish to detract from the pres- 

 tige of the metal framed slate bottom- 

 ed kind, but there are times when it 

 is desirable to have an aquarium more 

 nearly conforming with the furnishings 

 of the room in which it stands, 

 especially when one wishes to have 

 his "fishy world" in the parlor, 

 and has the esthetic objections of the 

 p-entler sex to overcome. This will be 



