JH THE FEESH-WATEB FISHES OF EUROPE. 



hatched in the spring grow to a length of one or two inches in the autumn, 

 when they are known as Globe Fish. In a year they may 03 five inches lon^. 

 Pennant remarks that " in China every person of fashion keeps them for amuse- 

 ment, either in porcelain vessels or in the small basins that decorate the 

 courts of Chinese houses. The beauty of their colours and their lively motions 

 give great entertainment, especially to the ladies, whose pleasures, by reason of 

 the cruel policy of that country, are extremely limited." In Europe they 

 oftener pass their lives in perpetual circumnavigation of small glass globes. 

 Buckland says that they should be preserved from the heat of the sun and the 

 cold of winter; that their water must be frequently changed, have a few 

 sprigs of V allisneria, in it, and a layer of duckweed on the top ; and that they 

 should be fed on scalded vermicelli and small red worms. But in Germany 

 their dietary includes finely-chopped meat, ants' eggs, and insect larva?, with 

 clotted blood and barley. They seldom grow in globes, for want, apparently, 

 of natural food ; but in ponds like those at Hampton Court attain a fine 

 development and show remarkable varieties of colour. Dr. Badham states 

 that he has watched the evolutions of the large shoal kept in the basin in the 

 park at Brussels, and has seen the whole corps in close pursuit after some 

 delinquent member, whose tail first one and then another seized upon, and bit 

 with boneless gums, all equally eager to hunt him down and secure the Irnxk. 

 Evidences of affection between Gold Fish are recorded by Jesse. Their sense 

 of sound is sufficiently acute to obey a familiar call. The Chinese are said to 

 assemble them in ponds at feeding-time in this way ; but in ponds where 

 visitors feed them in Europe they presumably detect the new comer by sight ; 

 for we have noticed that a gathering never fails to greet visitors on their 

 appearance at public gardens in which these fishes are exhibited. 



In thunder-storms they sometimes die, but this is not a failing peculiar to 

 Gold Fish. They are eaten in Switzerland; and have been introduced into the 

 Mauritius, where they are regarded with favour as an acceptable article of diet. 

 In the mills and manufactories of the north of England, where the steam from 

 the engines heats the water in the engine dams, Gold Fish thrive and multiply 

 rapidly. Yarrell regards them as by no means useless inhabitants of the dams, 

 since they consume the refuse grease, which would otherwise accumulate on the 

 surface of the water, and retard its cooling. 



Carassius bucephalus (HECKEL). 



D. 3/16, A. 3/5, P. 14, V. 9, C. 6/17/6. Scales : lat. line, 32, trans. 8/5. 



This species is known only from warm springs near Salonica, in Mace- 

 donia. It closely resembles Carassiuq vulgar is, but is characterised by its thicker, 



