THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1895. 



183 



grip on a side fin is more effective. 

 When one pins the other by the nose a 

 very exciting struggle takes place, the 

 two lying fastened together like profes- 

 sional wrestlers, and then shaking each 

 other backward and forward with might 

 and main. 



They often seem extremely exhausted, 

 but still fight on bravely, and some- 

 times it is a matter of difficulty to part 

 them. They display considerable agil- 

 ity in evading their opponent's mouth, 

 and also in suddenly twisting around 

 and taking a piece out of his tail. In 

 twenty minutes or so these appendages, 

 which looked so brave and bright as 

 they went into the fray, are torn to rib- 

 bons. The fish's general appearance 

 after the fight suggests that of a sailing 

 ship emerging from a hot action, with 

 her canvas hanging in streamers, her. 

 toi:)masts shot away, and her crew gasp- 

 ing for breath, but still ready to fight 

 again. The combatants sometimes suc- 

 cumb to a long contest, but generally 

 they only take superficial damage, and 

 are immediately ready to feed. After 

 a match they are always rested for a 

 week or longer, according to the extent 

 of their injuries, and most of the rents 

 and cuts are repaired by nature. En- 

 thusiastic owners often wager six or 

 seven pounds or more on their favor- 

 ites, and mary people earn a little 

 money in this way by breeding fighting 

 fish and then backing them against 

 others. — London Field. 



We have often read of the Siamese 

 fighting fish, and always thought that 

 these fish resembled, as far as their 

 mode of combat is concerned, the Chi- 

 nese Paradise fish. We have never seen 

 one of the former, nor have we a de- 

 scription regarding their size and color, 

 but judging by the manner of combat 

 as described in the above article, we are 



almost certain that the Siamese fight- 

 ing fish is no more nor less than the 

 Chinese Paradise fish ; at any rate, a 

 fish belonging to the same species. — 

 Ed. Aquarium. 



SNAILS. 



Regarding the strength of snails, a 

 man of inquiring mind writes : One 

 day, having found a fine specimen, I 

 tied a fine cord around his shell after 

 having fastened a bit of iron to the 

 other end of the same, in order to keep 

 him until I needed him. The iron was 

 bigger than he was, and I supposed it 

 heavy enough to hold him, until my 

 attention was attracted by a dragging, 

 scraping sound on the window-sill, 

 where I had corralled my captive. This 

 aroused my curiosity, and I determined 

 to find out how much one snail could 

 pull. I loosened the string from the 

 bit of iron and made it fast to a letter 

 scales, and watched Mr. Snail as he 

 pulled the indicator around to very 

 nearly nine ounces. Then I took a 

 little match box, such as matches are 

 bought in, put it on two pencils by way 

 of wheels, and proceeded to hitch up 

 my snail. I then loaded up my minia- 

 ture cart with cents, and found he 

 could still pull it to a weight of nine 

 and a quarter ounces ; that is, about 

 twenty times his own weight, which 

 was half an ounce. 



A four year-old boy died this spring, 

 poisoned by drinking water from a 

 tumbler in which lilies of the valley 

 had been kept. Few people have _ an 

 idea how poisonous some flowers are, 

 especially the lily of the valley, and it 

 should be the rule in every house to 

 keep cut flowers only in flower vases, 

 and at no time to use tumblers for that 

 purpose. 



