GOLDFISH AND THEIR CULTURE IN JAPAN. 391 
the criterion by which selection or rejection is made. If there is any marked 
diversity in the size of the fish, the large ones are separated from the small. 
Those selected are put into the pond lately cleaned, when their number is 
roughly estimated by measuring them with a teacup or a lacquered bowl. 
Twenty or thirty days later another selection takes place, in which the fish 
are chiefly classified according to size. As at this stage those destined to be 
white can be distinguished from those to be dappled, the former are caught 
and sold off. Between this time and the following August all the fish are cleared 
off by selling, except 300 per tsubo of the ponds, it being possible to find buyers 
for the fish grown to one sun (3 centimeters) or over. 
Toward the end of March the next year, 4,000 of the fish deemed best are 
retained and the rest sold off. From that time forward selection is made once 
a month during the following April, May, and June, and every time 1,000 fish are 
eliminated, commencing with the most inferior, until 1,000 are left at last for 
breeding purposes. Making allowance for loss from various causes and deduct- 
ing 2 per cent from the above number, 800 fish may remain. 
WAKIN, DEMEKIN, AND DEME RANCHU. 
The wakin is never so much prized as the ryukin, but on account of its 
large size, besides being healthy and strong, it is kept in a garden pond. In 
this variety, the tail should be thick and widely spread, the rays invisible and 
the dapples not merged into one another, while the contrary is the case with 
the ryukin in this last respect. The method of its culture is the same as that 
of the ryukin. 
Of the demekin those dappled with three of four colors are highly prized. 
Either the vermilion dapples or the black patches should be pronounced. In 
some the black pigment gives the color of ink, while others have the color of 
steel, like that of the crucian carp. In the former the color is permanent, but 
in the latter it fades into yellowish red in a year or two, and such a color as 
this last is worse than a uniform red. The caudal fin should be long and 
widely spread. The eyes, right and left, should protrude symmetrically. 
Those which protrude but little are not regarded with favor. Goldfish of this 
variety swim about, not in groups, but singly, which is not the case with the 
goldfish long known in Japan. 
The deme ranchu is colored all over the body either with yellowish red 
or black pigment, or yet dappled with black and red. This variety remains 
most of the time at the bottom of the pond resting on the belly, and scarcely 
ever swims. It does not live in groups; even less so than the demekin, and it 
very seldom spawns. In cultivating this variety, the breeders follow the same 
method as with the ryukin. 
