THE MUSEUM. 



139 



The color of gold-fish is liable to 

 the greatest variation; some are near- 

 ly all gold, mingled with red; others 

 are marked with a tine blue, brown or 

 a bright silvery line, but the usual pre- 

 domitory color is that of a brilliant 

 gold. The silver fish, differing only 

 in size and color, are of a silvery hue, 

 sometimes peculiarly marked, particu- 

 larly on the fins and eyes. It often 

 has double or triple tails, scarlet in 

 color. 



The fish have no value as an ar- 

 ticle of food, but the brilliancy of its 

 color and the ease with which it may 

 be kept in glass globes, made it the 

 favorite (tor keeping in globes) and it 

 has continued to be so, chiefly for the 

 reason they can live equally well in a 

 jar, tank or outdoor brook. 



The best method for keeping gold 

 or silver fish, if there is a best, is in a 

 round, square or rectangular glass ves- 

 sel with about three-quarters of a foot 

 of surface for every two fishes, in- 

 creased by half for every additional 

 one. You should never crowd too 

 many fish into the same jar or expose 

 them to the burning sun or the direct 

 heat of a fire. They can endure great 

 heat or bitter cold and it has been 

 said they have been found frozen solid 

 in water, but after gently thawing be- 

 came perfectly healthy and well. 



The best food for gold and silver 

 fish is the prepared fish cracker. It 

 is superior to bread or biscuit, because 

 it does not sour or corrupt the water. 

 Some people suppose they can get 

 along without food. They can for a 

 long time, but prefer a more substan- 

 tial diet. Aquatic plants are benefic- 

 ial and fine gravel should be strewed 

 in the bottom of the vessel that con- 

 tains fish. R. C. Stevens, 



New York City. 



How Insects Breathe. 



If we take any moderately large in- 

 sect, say a wasp or a hornet, we can 

 see, even with the naked eye, that 

 series of small, spot-like marks run- 



nm£ 



along the sides of the body. 

 These apparent spots, which are eigh- 

 teen or twenty in number, are, in fact, 

 the apertures through which air is ad- 

 mitted into the system, and are gener- 

 ally formed in such a manner that no 

 e.xtraneous matter can by any possi- 

 bility find entrance. Sometimes they 

 are furnished with a pair of horny lips, 

 which can be opened or closed at the 

 will of the insect; in other cases they 

 are densely fringed with stiff interlac- 

 ing bristles, forming a filter which al- 

 lows air, and air alone, to pass. But 

 the apparatus, of whatever character 

 it may be, is always so wonderfully 

 perfect in its action that it has been 

 found impossible to inject the body of 

 a dead insect with even so subtle a 

 medium as spirits of wine, although 

 the subject was first immersed with 

 the fluid and then placed beneath the 

 receiver of an air pump. The aper- 

 tures in question communicated with 

 two large breathing tubes, which ex- 

 tended through the entire length of 

 the body. From these main tubes 

 were given off innumerable branches, 

 which run in all directions, and con- 

 tinually divide and subdivide, until a 

 wonderfully intricate network is form- 

 ed, pervading every part of the struct- 

 ure and penetrating even to the an- 

 tenme. 



A Curious Fence. 



At Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellow- 

 stone Park, there is a fence made of 

 elk horns. It incloses the greater 

 part of the grounds of photographer 

 F. Jay Haynes' studio. The fence is 

 composed of over three hundred se- 

 lected elk horns. All of them have 

 twelve points, and a great many have 

 the royal fourteen points. They were 

 shed in March, 1895, and were gath- 

 ered in June of the same year by Mr. 

 Haynes and three of his men, within 

 a radius of ten miles of Mammoth Hot 

 Springs and within four days' time. 

 There are a large number of elks im 

 the park now. 



