TEOPICAL AQUARIUM FISHES 23 



Early Variations. In breeding single-tail fishes together in which 

 there is no known double-tail stock, one will sometimes find a fish with 

 the lower lobe of the tail double, making it a reasonable supposition that 

 this was the first "break"' in form away from the common stock. This 

 is called a "tripod tail." The next higher development is the "web-tail" 

 in which both tails are fully formed but joined at the top edge instead of 

 being completely divided. From these early "breaks" have been developed 

 the fully divided tails, double anal fins ct cetera. 



By careful selective breeding, types have become fairly well fixed, 

 but the goldfish has a strong tendency to revert far back to ancestral 

 types, in form as well as color, often to the annoyance of the breeder. 

 One of the most interesting things about a spawning of goldfishes is the 

 tremendous variety in the young. In a lot of a thousand young scaleless 

 fishes there may not be two alike, and none may resemble either parent. 

 That this, however, is not always so is a self-evident fact, else selective 

 breeding would be without results. 



The accomplishments of Oriental breeders seems only to be limited 

 by the scope of the imagination. Through the most patient efforts, not 

 only of a lifetime, but of several generations of a family, such changes 

 have been wrought in form and color that some of the breeds do not 

 seem to even distantly resemble the common goldfish. That this is so is 

 often evidenced by the fact that strangers to the fancy on first seeing a 

 collection of highly developed fishes zvant to knozv what they are. An 

 amusing incident illustrating this point occured in the preparation of the 

 present volume. The engraver who made the plate for the goldfish 

 design on the outside cover billed the publishers with "One Cut of But- 

 terfly" ! Those outside the fancy sometimes seriously refer to the fins of 

 fancy specimens as "wings." Among fanciers a high dorsal fin is often 

 referred to as the "sail." 



When it is borne in mind what a considerable period of time must 

 have been necessary to bring about these strange breeds, it is not surpris- 

 ing that racial ideas and characteristics should, to a certain degree, be ex- 

 pressed in them. The Telescope Goldfish was originated in China and 

 undoubtedly bears a resemblance to Chinese art. It has a sort of beau- 

 tiful ugliness, a deliberate grotesqueness, intended first to shock and then 

 excite curiosity. The wonderful range of colors, too, suggests the art 

 of the Chinese — that race which continues to-day to lead the world in 

 the clever use of color. The Japanese Fringetail Goldfish is another 

 expression of national art. It is the \try embodiment of that aesthetic 

 elegance and grace so well understood by the Japanese people. America 

 has not been without its logical contribution. Here in this vast melting 

 pot it is our desire to bring forth combinations of the best from the old 



