REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. lxx\'ii 



The best carp, Mr. Hessel thinks, are to be found in the region of the 

 Danube, characterized by the elevated, fleshy, and compressed back, a 

 rapid growth, and delicious flesh. For almost thousands of years they 

 liave been kept in ponds connected with various public and private 

 estates. 



15. — The gourami. — {Osphromenus olfax.) 



A fish that has attracted the attention of all interested in the intro- 

 duction of valuable animals to the country of their residence is the 

 gourami. 



It has had an existence, whether indigenous or not, for many centuries 

 in the fresh waters of Cochin China, and is found also in portions of 

 the mainland and islands of the China Sea and Indian Ocean. It has 

 been successfully acclimated in certain islands to the eastward of Af- 

 rica. Living specimens are now in the possession of the Museum of 

 Natural History and of Mr. Carbonnier, of Paris. Attempts have been 

 made, without satisfactory success, to introduce it into regions of South 

 America, the West Indies, Southern Africa, Australia, Egypt, and 

 France. 



The qualities that are brought forward as causing so high an estimate 

 of the value of the gourami are its superior excellence as food and the 

 fact that it is adapted to waters under a hot sun, attaining the highest 

 degrees of temperature. It is also largely a vegetable eater, feeding 

 upon water-plants of genera that are found in widely separated regions 

 of the globe. It may be fed, too, with numerous articles of ordinary 

 food, and the refuse of the table, and kept in confined bodies of water, 

 provided they contain suitable plants. 



It attains, under favorable circumstances, the weight of twenty-five 

 or thirty pounds, though from three to five is said to be the average. 

 It is also said to thrive in brackish as well as fresh waters. 



The numerous failures to transport it and keep it alive during long 

 voyages would scarcely influence American fish-culturists against 

 its attempted introduction, as it is well known that inexperienced 

 persons lose those fish during transportation which have the greatest 

 tenacity of life under proper treatment. The fish could be brought from 

 the Mauritius, India, Java, China, or other accessible localities, and, by 

 care in selecting the period and route of the transfer, the experiment 

 would doubtless be successful. Recent experiments have shown that 

 some varieties resist the influence of cold more than others ; a tempera- 

 ture even of 47° F. having been endured with impunity in the case of a 

 number lately transported to France. They might be readily intro- 

 duced from the region of China into the high-temi^eratiire " tule" lakes 

 of Southern California and i^evada, and from there distributed farther 

 east. 



They guard their eggs and young with the utmost vigilance and cour- 

 age, and their propagation and multiplication can be left to nature if 

 the proper conditions in water and food are afforded them. 



