24 GOLDEN CARP. 



collect the spawn from the rivers and sell it to merchants, who send it to different parts of 

 the country to be propagated in small ponds, or kept in glass or porcelain vessels in the 

 houses of the rich. 



The date of the introduction of these "sportive" fish into England is uncertain; 1611, 

 1 69 1, and 1728 are each recorded as the year in which they were brought over; it was not, 

 perhaps, till the year 1728 that Goldfish became generally known, when they were brought 

 over in large numbers and presented to Sir Matthew Decker, Lord Mayor of London, who 

 distributed them to various friends over the country. The Goldfish appears to have been 

 introduced into Portugal at an early period ; it is now completely naturalized in many of the 

 waters of that country, and a great number of these fish, so commonly exposed for sale in 

 the well-known glass globes of the London and other dealers, have been and are now, I 

 believe, brought into England by trading vessels from Lisbon and other Portuguese towns. 

 In France the Goldfish is said to have been unknown till the days of Louis XV., whose 

 mistress, the Marchioness de Pompadour, had received some as a present. 



The temperature of the water has a marked effect in influencing the colour of the Gold- 

 fish ; in ordinary ponds of this country the usual and prevailing colour is bronze ; the golden 

 colour is induced by a warm temperature of the water. "It is a well-known fact that in 

 manufacturing districts where there is an inadequate supply of cold water for the condensation 

 of the steam employed in the engines, recourse is had to what are called engine-dams or 

 ponds, into which the water from the steam-engine is thrown for the purpose of being cooled; 

 in these dams the average temperature of which is about eighty degrees, it is common to 

 keep Goldfish ; and it is a notorious fact that they multiply in these situations much more 

 rapidly than in ponds of lower temperature, exposed to the variations of the climate. Three 

 pairs of this species were put into one of these dams, where they increased so rapidly, that 

 at the end of three years their progeny, which were accidentally poisoned by verdigris mixed 

 with the refuse tallow from the engine, were taken out by wheelbarrows-full. Goldfish are by 

 no means useless inhabitants of these dams : they consume the refuse grease which would 

 otherwise impede the cooling of the water by accumulating on its surface." — (Dr. Edward's 

 Influence of Physical Agents on- Life, Note, p. 467.) 



The question as to the influence of temperature In producing changes of colour, or 

 modifying form, or producing death, is an interesting one. The late Dr. John Davy has 

 published some observations on the vitality of fishes, and on the degree of temperature fatal 

 to them, well worth studying. His experiments on the Goldfish are expressed In a short 

 paragraph, which I will quote. — "One of average size, taken from an aquarium and put Into 

 water at ninety-six degrees (Fahr.), immediately became restless, swimming about hurriedly, 

 and making violent leaps, as if attempting to escape. Gradually It became languid, swimming 

 on Its side, the caudal fin seldom acting. After a few minutes, when the water had fallen 

 to ninety degrees. It appeared to be motionless: the pectoral fins and the opercula were the 

 last that ceased to act. Now transferred to water of seventy degrees, it rapidly revived, the 

 gills first acting. After an interval of about an hour. It was put into water at ninety-three 

 degrees. This temperature It bore pretty well at first, gradually it became languid, swimming 

 on Its side. As the water cooled, its languor abated ; and when the temperature had fallen 

 to eighty-eight degrees it had resumed Its natural position." — {Physiological Researches, p. 301.) 

 From this experiment It would appear that a temperature of about eighty or eighty-eight 

 degrees is well suited to the Goldfish, and that at such a temperature it assumes a brilliant 

 golden, silver, orange, or silver mixed with gold, but that at a temperature of ninety-six 

 degrees the Goldfish will die; such a high temperature would probably be fatal to all 

 other kinds of fish. The statements made by travellers that fish are able to live in water so 

 hot that a man could not bear his hand therein for a single minute must, one would 

 suppose, be Incorrect. A temperature of one hundred and fifteen degrees was found by Dr. 



