172 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



and Japatiy 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 cyprinus, 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 goldfinch or a linnet hopping as it were in the 

 midst of the water, and the fishes swimming in a circle 

 round it. The simple exhibition of the fishes is agreeable 

 and pleasant; but in so complicated a way becomes 

 whimsical and unnatural, and liable to the objection due 

 to him, 



" Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam." 



I am, &c. 



