THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 35 
colouring, though among true naturalists I think the 
Prussian carp will always compete with it to advantage, 
for the gold fish is certainly the dullest-minded of the 
family, and, like most fops, lazy and unteachable. Pen- 
nant says, ‘‘ In China every person of fashion keeps them 
for amusement, either in porcelain vessels, or in the small 
basins that decorate the courts of the Chinese houses. 
The beauty of their colours and their lively motions give 
great entertainment, especially to the ladies, whose 
pleasures, from the policy of the country, are extremely 
limited.” This carp appears to have been introduced 
into Britain about 1611, though the precise date is now 
difficult to determine. Mr. Yarrell leaves it an open 
question. 
A large number of those reared for sale are the produce 
of waters which receive the waste steam from factories, 
and which are thus kept to a temperature frequently as 
high as 80 degrees. In fact this carp is most prolific in 
tepid water, though those that are bred at a lower temper- 
ature are more beautiful. The gold carp is not the only 
fish that can bear such high degrees of heat, perch and 
mullet have been found in waters at 86 degrees ; live eels 
were found by De Saussure in water heated to 113 degrees, 
and other instances, mentioned in Bushnan’s “Study of 
Nature,” show the adaptability to temperature in fish of 
many other species. I had minnows frozen into a solid 
mass last winter, and the same day they were thrown into 
a tank, in a room where a fire was burning, and in a few 
hours were sporting about in a genial warmth of 60 
degrees, a change of more than thirty degrees in a few 
hours. 
D2 
