THE AQUARIUM, APRIL, 1895. 



173 



pare a nest on the bottom of the tank, 

 where the female deposits her eggs, 

 which botli guard. Four days after 

 spawning the young hatch. These are 

 as carefully guarded as the eggs were, 

 and later on they are instructed for 

 their future career by both parents, 

 who swim about with them, as a hen 

 walks around with her chicks. We 

 find that the Zebra fish stand captivity 

 well, enjoying their meals, which con- 

 sists of scraped raw beef or I.X.L. fish 

 food, immensely. 



Their native home is the La Plata 

 valley ; the South Americans call them 

 " Chanchitos," which means "pig," 

 either because their shape is somewhat 

 like that animal or because they fight in 

 a similar manner to that of young pigs. 

 In Germany the name ''chameleon fish " 

 is proposed, owing to the ability of the 

 fish to change its colors. This, how- 

 ever, we consider no denominative fea 

 ture, as nearly all of our sunfish and 

 also the Chinese Paradise fish possess 

 this ability, in some cases even to a 

 greater extent than the Zebra fish does. 

 We selected the latter name for them, 

 because we find that through their 

 color and stripes this fish resembles a 

 zebra more than anything else, espe- 

 cially when the fish are most brilliant 

 in colors and the yellow appears in the 

 dorsal fin ; even the markings of the 

 mane of the zebra are then represented.. 



©rift'^reed. 



Palms should never be allowed to get 

 dry ; in fact, in tiie summer they should 

 stand in a saucer of water, whence 

 the roots will take up their supply as 

 they want it. Keep the foliage free 

 from dust and wash them once in a 

 while with a sponge and tepid water. 

 They do not want any sun, but plenty of 

 light ; they are sure to die in parlors 

 where all the blinds are closed. 



The beautiful North German Lloyd 

 steamer "Elbe," that sunk in the North 

 Sea on the 30th of January, taking 

 three hundred and thirty- five people to 

 the bottom of the sea, was greatly iden- 

 tified with the fish culture and especi- 

 ally the aquarium business of this 

 country and Germany. Several years 

 ago, when we brought the beautiful 

 Chinese Paradise fish and the Japanese 

 telescope fish to this country, it was 

 our good fortune to cross the At- 

 lantic as one of her passengers. Be- 

 fore and after this trip she carried 

 novelties in the fish line. When she was 

 running on the line between Bremen 

 and Chinese ports, she brought tropical 

 fish to Germany, Russia and England. 

 While on the New York line she carried 

 on nearly every trip European species 

 to this port and American fish to the 

 German sliore. 



Her officers and crew, as far as they 

 came in contact with " live cargo," 

 were great friends of animals, and ship- 

 ments of live fish or amphibians had 

 always the best of care when aboard of 

 the "Elbe." The crew were very fond 

 of her. They would say, when remarks 

 were made regarding her speed : "She 

 knows her way in the dark, and would 

 find the port of New York all by her- 

 self." On her last successful trip, last 

 December, she brought us the first 

 young Brazilian zebra fish, of which a 

 description is given elsewhere in this 

 issue. 



What's ik a Name ? 

 We were taking a small can of choice 

 Japanese goldfish to one of the arist.o- 

 cratic residences up-town in New York 

 city, the other day, and used the Broad- 

 way surface car. As the weather was 



