THE GOLD FISH. 127 



part of the body, and yellowish -white on the belly. The base of each scale is darker than its other 

 part, and the fins are dark brown. The body is thick ; there are two barbels at the upper part of each 

 corner of the mouth, but the lower pair is the larger. The tail is forked. The dorsal and anal fins 

 have a strong ray, which is serrated on the hinder margin. 



The genus Carassius differs from Cyprinus in being without barbels. It is represented by the 

 Crucian Carp spread through Central and Northern Europe, Italy, and Siberia and by the 

 Carassius auratus, or Goldfish. The Crucian Carp (Carassius vulgaris) has the rather feeble stiff 

 ray of the dorsal and anal fins finely serrated. In the Thames it sometimes weighs from one 

 pound and a half to two pounds and a half. It is domesticated on the Continent, and exhibits 

 many varieties. It spawns in June, when the fish assemble together in great numbers. In Siberia it 

 becomes torpid in the winter, and is said to survive in the mud, even when the lakes freeze to the 

 bottom. The scales are large. This species forms a hybrid with the common Carp. Dr. Gunther 

 regards the Prussian Carp as a lean variety of the Crucian Carp. 



THE GOLD FISH.* 



Gold and Silver fish are familiar pets, not only in the ponds of public gardens, but in the humbler 

 aquaria of private houses. They are said first to have been brought to Europe in the seventeenth 

 century, their original home being China, where they are kept in porcelain vessels for the amusement 

 of ladies. The fish is naturalised in Portugal, and a large number of those which reach the London 

 market are brought from Lisbon by trading ships. Blanchard states that in the rivers of France it loses 

 its colour. In the manufacturing districts of England they are often kept in the ponds in which the 

 water from the steam-engine is allowed to run off and cool. Here the average temperature is often about 

 80 Fahr., and Yarrell records that the fish breed much more readily under such circumstances than when 

 exposed to the variations of climate. The species is apparently capable of enduring even a much higher 

 temperature. Three pairs of fishes put into one of these warm ponds had, in three years, so increased in 

 number that they were then taken out by the wheelbarrow-full. The varieties of colour and size are 

 well exhibited in the collection at Hampton Court. The fins are no less valuable than the colour; 

 sometimes the anal fin is double, sometimes there are two, three, or four tails ; the dorsal fin varies in 

 length, and occasionally may even be absent ; sometimes the eyes are very large and protruding, when the 

 variety is termed the Telescope fish. No specimens are known to exceed a foot in length. A large number 

 of allied genera, with the pharyngeal teeth in three series, occur in the Indian region. Among such are 

 a species of the genus Catla, which occurs in the Ganges and Hooghly ; Cirrhina, Dangila, Osteochilus, 

 are other genera. The genus Labeo has the lips greatly thickened, and each possesses a sort of inner lip 

 covered with a horny sheath which forms a sharp grasping edge, though it is not attached to the bone ; 

 the snout is covered with hollow tubercles. The occipital crest of the skull is firmly united to the neural 

 spines of the earlier vertebrae. Some of the species occur in the Nile and other parts of Africa, others 

 belong to the East Indian region. Another group of Carp is characterised by having the greater part of 

 the cheek unprotected by bone. Among these, Discognathus presents a singular type in having the 

 lower lip modified into a suctorial disc, and its pectoral fins are horizontal. The Discognathus lamta 

 ranges through all the countries from Syria to Assam, and presents considerable variation in colour, 

 form of the snout, barbels, lips, eyes, and tail. The Epalzeorhynchus callopterus, from Sumatra and 

 Borneo, has the snout inflated and bluntly rounded, and furnished with a lateral lobe, which can be 

 freely moved. The Capeota damascina is a well-known fish of Palestine, which occurs, not only in the 

 Jordan and Lake of Galilee, but also in the Dead Sea, and has been found in Lake Van, in Asia 

 Minor. The Syrian specimens sometimes reach a length of thirteen inches. The other species of this 

 genus are mostly from Asia Minor. 



The genus Barbus comprises about two hundred species of fishes, which vary a good 

 deal in their characters. The dorsal fin generally has the third ray enlarged and ossified ; it rarely 

 includes more than nine branched rays, and is placed opposite to the root of the ventral fin. The anal 

 fin is short and high. The barbels may be absent, as in some East Indian forms, but the larger 

 number of the fishes have four barbels, though they are sometimes reduced to two. The best known 

 species is the Barbel (Barbus vulgaris}, a widely-distributed species in Europe, being plentiful in all 

 the rivers which flow into the Black Sea, in the Weser, Elbe, Rhine, Thames, and most northern 



* Carassius auratus. 



