374 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept. 



smaller the fish the better. At the same time we thus have a 

 chance of having more specimens without diminishing too much 

 the supply of oxygen. It is often very difficult to get small speci- 

 mens of some kind of fish, such as perch or eels. At certain 

 seasons of the year it is the custom, in some places in the country, 

 to draw off the water in the mill-pond and make repairs ; if such 

 a time presents then is the time for the lover of the aquarium to 

 enjoy himself, for as the water is left in small, shallow holes, here 

 and there, we shall find in these places multitudes of specimens 

 only waiting to be preserved, — small perch in great numbers and 

 many rare larvae among the plants. At such a time too, we can 

 make a choice of mussels, selecting for their beauty those whose 

 shells are rayed with the darker shades of green. Very young 

 bream are easy to catch in the net. Not so with those an inch or 

 more long, and now is the chance offered to get as many as we wish. 

 Perch and bream both need a good deal of care to make them live 

 the year round in the tank, but they will repay a little trouble, 

 as they become so tame if properly cared for. Speaking of the 

 tameness of fishes, it seems to be more a question of food than 

 anything else ; if fishes are fed at certain times, and are compel- 

 led to come to the top for the food, they soon get into the way of 

 coming up whenever one is near by, and will even jump out of 

 the water at the bare finger. There is a little fish, fouod mostly 

 in slowly running streams, called the roach ; it is a very inte- 

 resting fish for the aquarium on account of its peculiar shape and 

 habits ; it has two large side fins just behind the head, which it 

 always keeps fully extended, looking as if it had an old fashioned 

 collar on. It remains motionless for the most part of the time on 

 the bottom of the stream, occasionally starting off, perhaps in 

 search of food, only to sink down again to its former quiet posi- 

 tion in the aquarium. Young pickerel are desirable fish to have 

 in the tanks if one can afford to keep only that kind of fish ; 

 placed with larger fish they do very well and constantly recom- 

 mend themselves for their elegant movements, but with small fish, 

 such as minnows, they live in constant war. In one of my tanks 

 twenty-four minnows were killed within a week by a pickerel 

 about an inch and a half long, and this while giving the pickerel 

 a regular course of feeding on beef. Minnows have always held 

 a high rank among the fishes to be selected for the aquarium ; 

 collecting together in schools, tame, hardy, and lively, they have 

 qualities which few aquarial specimens possess. The stickleback 



