114 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Proper food when kept in glasses. 



cause the basin is overstocked. The old fish 

 were blackish when I received them; at present 

 two are quite red; another begins to turn red, 

 and is black only on the back; the remainder 

 have not changed their colour. Among the 

 young ones, I have at different times, remarked 

 some that were quite red when they were scarcely 

 of the length of a finger. It is the red fish alone 

 that become silvery, but only when they grow 

 old ; the red colour turning pale by degrees,, till at 

 length it changes to white. The red spots begin 

 to appear at the end of the tail, and are very 

 striking to the eye, particularly in those fish that 

 are black. I feed them like carp, with white 

 bread." 



Gold fish when kept in glasses, or china vases, are 

 fed with cake, bread crumbled very fine, hard yolks 

 of eggs reduced to a powder, hashed pork, and 

 snails, of which they are said to be very fond : they 

 also eagerly devour flies that are thrown to them. 

 Some have imagined that they need no aliment : 

 it is true, indeed, they will subsist for a long time 

 without any apparent food, but what they can 

 collect from pure water frequently changed : yet 

 they must draw some support from animalcuke, 

 and other nourishment supplied by the water ; 

 because, though they seem to eat nothing, yet 

 the consequences of eating often drop from them ; 

 nnd that they are best pleased with this jejune 

 diet, may ensily be confuted, since if you toss 



