18 JOURNAL OF THE [july, 



it is very different with this same species in its normal state. 

 Among the fishes which occupied my attention this past winter 

 were two of these Crucian carps or gold-fishes, Carassius auratus. 

 One of them was the true golden, and the other the pale or sil- 

 ver variety. Neither of these were affected by the fungus, 

 although about a year previous the pale one had a very severe 

 attack of the Saprolegnia. I saved it by temporary isolation 

 from the rest. 



It must be, I think, that the oospores have in some instances 

 long rests, so that they appear at intervals, even as epidemics ; 

 as for example, the Ac/iyla, that formidable species of the sapro- 

 legnia group, which sometimes so greatly injures the salmon. 

 What may be the sufferings of these cold-blooded creatures when 

 succumbing to this scourge, one cannot say. To me it has ap- 

 peared to be considerable. Truly pitiable is the sight of one of 

 these pretty creatures when in the throes of death from an attack 

 of this fungus disease. Each fin is now collapsed like a closed 

 fan whose folds are held in the meshes of an agglutinated web. 

 From tail to nose it is invested with a white, gnawing, morbific 

 shroud, with here and there a rent, disclosing a purple-red patch 

 of scald beneath. At last this fatal flocculence has reached the 

 respiratory functions, and the crimson gills grow livid, surcharged 

 with the unaerated blood, and the erst rapid breather now gasps 

 at intervals in spasmodic agony, and in a spasm expires. The 

 jet optic set in a ring of gold seems to look at me with some 

 dumb utterance, as if asking the unanswerable wherefore ? 

 And there comes that esoteric whisper through the ages — the 

 whole creation groaneth, waiting for the manifestation. 



Occupants of the aquarium : Enneacanthus simulans, spotted 

 sun-fish. Mesogonistius c/uptodon, black-banded sun-fish. Lepo- 

 mis gibbosus, common sun-fish or pumpkin seed. Carassius au- 

 ratus, crucian carp, both the gold and the silver varieties. 

 Melanura pyg/nxa, Eastern mud-fish. Amiurus catus, horn pout, 

 small catfish. Eriitiyzon susetta, chub sucker, mullet. Aphodo- 

 derus sayanus, pirate perch. Catosto?nus communis, white sucker. 

 Hybognathus argyritis, silvery minnow. Notemigonus chrysolencus, 

 shiner. Tadpoles or larval frogs. 



