THE GOLD-FISH. 455 



wTiicli they have near the gills, and the pectoral fins: the males have 

 these parts very bright and shining. 



In China the Gold-fish are fed with balls of paste, and the yolka 

 of eggs boiled very hard. In England, many persons are of opinioo 

 that they need no aliment. It is true that they will subsist for a long 

 while without any other food than what they can collect from water 

 fVeqacntly changed; yet they must draw some support from animal- 

 cules and other nourishment supplied by the water. That they are 

 best pleased by such slender diet may easily be confuted, since they 

 will readily, if not greedily, seize crumbs that are thrown to them. 

 Bread ought, however, to be given sparingly, lest, turaiug sour, it 

 corrupt the water. 



Gold-fish do not often multiply in very close confinement. If it 

 be desirable to have them bred, they must be put into a tolerably 

 large reservoir, through which a stream of water runs, and in which 

 there are some deep places. 



When the Gold-fish v/as originally brought from China to Eng- 

 land, about two hundred years since, it was considered a great curi- 

 osity; now, however, it is quite common, and is found to live in 

 ponds even when the surface of the water is thickly covered v/ith ice. 

 The ponds in Christ Cliurch College, and the Botanic Gardens, 

 Oxford, are thickly populated with these bpautiful fish, which in- 

 crease with the most marvelous rapidity. The pond in the centre 

 of the Clarendon Printing Office was stocked with these fish, and as 

 the spare water from the steam-engine used in the works ))assed into 

 the pond, they throve amazingly. One unfortunate morning, the 

 surface of the pond was covered with Golden Carp, all floating dead. 

 Some verdigris had formed in some part of the engine, had beea 

 washed into the pond, and had poisoned all its finny inhabitants. 



Gold-fish appear to have been first brought to the United States 

 from England. They were rapidly difl'used to every part of the 

 country. Formerly they were considered great rarities and were 

 seen only in the parlors and conservatories of wealthy people, where, 

 jvi their highly ornamented glass globes and vases, they attracted 

 much attention and admiration; but now they are raised in ponds for 

 Bale, are kept by all classes of people in their houses for oinamentg, 

 and form one of the usual attractions to the soda water fountain. la 

 these latter places they are kept in elegantly wrought marble vasea. 

 The keeping oif them costs very little trouble, the principal precaution 

 aoceseary for their healthy existence being a frequent change cf tha 

 w&tQT in the globe or vase in which they live. 



