CHAPTER VII. 



GOLD FISH, 



ONG before the Aquarium and its prin- 

 ciples were understood, Gold and Silver 

 Pish had become favourite pets, and 

 were kept with more or less success in 

 glass globes manufactured expressly. 

 Their rich colouring and pleasing mo- 

 tions made them very ornamental, and 

 many elaborate structures were invented for their 

 display. The globes were placed on richly deco- 

 rative stands, surrounded with moss and flowers, 

 and in some cases an inner globe was contrived, 

 open with wire-work at the bottom, into which 

 Canary birds were introduced, to be seen perching 

 on branches of coral as though actually disporting 

 themselves in the water among the Gold and Silver 

 Pish ; white Mice or Guinea Pigs being sometimes 

 substituted in the inner globe for the birds. 



The effect produced was fantastic, and not un- 

 pleasing, and suited the imperfectly developed taste 

 of the day ; but in these times of international ex- 



