46 



THE AQUARIUM, APRIL, 1896. 



ences of the weather, so is the fish's 

 skin protected with tliis coat of slime 

 against the dangerous influences of the 

 water. It is for this reason, therefore, 

 tliat we advise our readers to handle 

 tlieir fish as little as possible, and then 

 with the utmost care. 



In our experience we have found that 

 the tench proves very beneficial to any 

 collection, as we have never had a dis- 

 ease of any kind occur in a tank in 

 which one or more tench formed part 

 of the stock. These monks of old 

 must have had founded reasons for the 

 application of such a title to a fish. 



The tench belongs to the carp 

 family and, as is already stated above, 

 the Golden Tench is a variety of the 

 Common or Green Tench. This orna- 

 mental variety originated very many 

 years ago, j^erhaps centuries, in the 

 moat of a castle in Silesia (Germany). 

 The color of its body is chrome yellow 

 or light orange with a golden lustre, 

 here and there spotted with irregular, 

 intensely black spots, no two specimens 

 being spotted alike. It is covered with 

 very small scales, and these are in turn 

 covered with an unusually thick coat of 

 slime, the latter making it feel to the 

 touch as slippery as an eel. The fins 

 are whitish and almost transparent; their 

 location upon the body and also the 

 shape of the latter may be studied in 

 the accompanying outline drawing of 

 the fish. The individuals that "posed" 

 for the sketch are two years old, and 

 are represented in the cut one-half of 

 their natural size. The head of the 

 tench is naked, which means that it is 

 not covered with scales ; the eyes of the 

 Golden Tench are dark brown, almost 

 black, while those of the Green Tench 

 are blood -red, now and then with a 

 streak of yellow in it. On each corner 

 of the mouth all true tench have but one 

 barbie. The motions of the tench are 

 graceful and gentle ; their mode of 

 spawning is like that of all carp-like 

 fishes, and takes place in the spring of 

 the year. 



A Mbkchant in Siblingen, Switzerland, 

 has lately purchased two hiindred thousand 

 snails, from which he intends to breed for 

 the Paris, France, market, where a certain 

 species of this mollusk is sold in enormous 

 quantities for the table. 



A AVhite Marechal Niel Eose. — For 

 many years the florists have experimented 

 to produce a white flowering variety" out of 

 the beautiful golden yellow Marechal Niel 

 rose, which was first produced by Mr. 

 Pradel, a rose culturist of France, in 1864. 

 Mr. Franz Deegen, Jr., of Kostritz, Thiir- 

 ingen, Germany, whose rose nursery has a 

 world wide reputation, has at last siicceeded. 

 The flower is of the same size and shape as 

 the original, white in color, sho'wing a yel- 

 lowish-white center which, when the flower 

 is fullj- open, becomes cream-colored. The 

 odor of the flower and the foliage is identical 

 with the old yellow type. It is equally well 

 adapted for greenhouse or gaiden culture. 



Much Ado About Nothing. — From the 

 Rangeley Lakes. — A tender-hearted citizen 

 of Hallowell has been bothered by skunks 

 lately and so baited an old-fashioned box 

 trap the other night for them, and on find- 

 ing it sprung he felt relieved to the extent 

 of one less skunk. Being humane he didn't 

 want to kill him, so he concluded to turn 

 him over to a man who has a skunk farm 

 near by. But as the proprietor of the farm 

 did not come after the animal for a matter 

 of twenty-four hours, our kind-hearted 

 citizen, through compassion, dropped a 

 little food through the spindle hole in the 

 trap. Finally the man came for the skunk, 

 and as a convenience took him home in the 

 trap. On the way a friend, learning by 

 inquiry what was in the box, asked to look 

 at him. As the box was quite heavy they 

 remarked that ''he must be a big one." 

 Cautiously they opened the trap, but no 

 skunk appeared — in fact it was empty. The 

 trap had been accidentally sprung. — Maine 

 Sportsman. 



