394 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
their hatching they are put into a mud pond in the proportion of 300 fish per 
tsubo. The next selection is not made until the fish put on new colors at the 
end of July or the beginning of August, when those which are uniformly white 
or unsatisfactory in the form of the tail are sold at a nominal price. That the 
best kind of the variety may be obtained, however, two more selections are to 
be made, the character most highly prized being the form of the caudal fin. In 
Tokyo and Nagoya the four-lobed tail is regarded with preference, while Kori- 
yama is content with the three-lobed tail, the four-lobed tail, or the bag tail, 
if only it is symmetrical in form. The head should be broad in front. The 
protuberances which are in three years developed on the head should be like a 
large well-proportioned flower of the tree peony and should not be small. In 
some localities, such as Kii, Hiroshima, Awa, and Sanuki, there is a variety 
called simply ‘“‘shishi” (lion), which is brass colored and has a short tail. Not 
a few of this variety are found to be uniformly colored. Generally speaking, 
those which are satisfactory in the form of the head have the tail abbreviated; 
seldom are the fish perfect in both respects. 
There was formerly neither oranda shishigashira nor ranchu having varie- 
gated figures on the back. Such varieties, however, have been occasionally 
produced since the twenty-second year of Meiji (1889), and their descendants 
have been studiously used for breeding purposes. Both varieties are now 
extensively produced and highly admired. 
The young oranda shishigashira are first put into a mud pond in the pro- 
portion of 300 fish per tsubo, but those white in color and abnormal in form are 
eliminated, and from this and other causes the numbers are by autumn reduced 
to one-half of the number originally put into the present pond. These are left 
alone till the following spring, when they are put up for sale. They attain by 
that time the size of 1 sun 5 or 6 bu (4 to 5 centimeters) in length. When 
it is desired to produce fish of a greater size, the number of young first to be re- 
moved to a new pond after hatching is reduced from 300 to roo, and these 
attain the size of about 2 sun (6 centimeters) in the same length of time as 
before. In the third year they grow to 3 or 4 sun (9 to 12 centimeters), in 
the fourth year, to 6 sun (18 centimeters), in the fifth, to 8 sun (30 centimeters), 
and in the sixth, to 1 shaku (33.3 centimeters). In fact, it is known that in 
the last-mentioned year they sometimes attain to the minimum size of 1 shaku 
2 sun (36.5 centimeters). Furthermore, for the purpose of producing breeds of a 
great size, the fish having a good natural constitution and a well-formed head are 
selected from the six year old stock as parent fish, and breeds are put into a pond 
in the proportion of 6 or 7 per tsubo. Selection is again made in the follow- 
ing year and the rate is further lessened to 2 per tsubo. ‘The fish are fed with 
2 kamme (7.5 kilograms) of Viviparus and 500 or 600 momme (1,875 to 2,250 
grams) of the chrysalides of silkworms pounded and mixed with starch (of 
