OF SELBORNE. 105 



changeable variety of dimensions, shades, 

 and colours ; while the two mediums, 

 assisted by the concavo-convex shape of 

 the vessel, magnify and distort them vastly; 

 not to mention that the introduction of 

 another element and its inhabitants into 

 our parlours engages the fancy in a very 

 agreeable manner. 



Gold and silver fishes, though originally 

 natives of China and Japan, yet are become 

 so well reconciled to our climate as to 

 thrive and multiply very fast in our ponds 

 and stews. Linnceus ranks this species of 

 fish under the genus of syprinus, or carp, 

 and calls it cyprinus auratus. 



Some people exhibit this sort of fish in 

 a very fanciful way ; for they cause a glass 

 bowl to be blown with a large hollow 

 space within, that does not communicate 

 with it. In this cavity they put a bird 

 occasionally ; so that you may see a gold- 

 finch or a linnet hopping as it were in the 

 midst of the water, and the fishes swim- 

 ming in a circle round it. The simple 

 exhibition of the fishes is agreeable and 



