THE GOLD-FISH. 455 



whicfi tljey tiave near the gills, and the pectoral fine: tra-e males have 

 these parts very bright and shinir.g. 



In Chima the Gold-fish are fed with balls of paste, and the yolks 

 of eggs boiled very hard. In Englarad, many persons are of opinion 

 that they weed no aliment. It is true that they will subsist for a long 

 wliL? without any other food than what they can collect from water 

 frequently changed; yet they must draw some support from animal- 

 cules and other nourishment supplied by the water. That they ar6 

 best pleased by such slender diet eaay easily be confuted, since they 

 will readily, it not greedily, seize crumbs that are thrown to them. 

 Bread ought, however, to be given sparingly, lest, turning sour, it 

 corrupt the water. 



Gold-fish do not often multiply in very close confinement. If it 

 be desirable to have them bred, they must be put into a tolerably 

 !arge reservoir, through which a stream of water runs, and i\a which 

 there are some deep places. 



When the Gold-fish was originally brought from China to Eng- 

 land, about two hundred years since, it was considered a great cari- 

 osity; now, however, it is quite common, and is fourad to live ia 

 ponds even when the surface -of the water is thickly covered with ice. 

 The ponds in Christ Church College, aad the Botanic Gardens, 

 Oxford, are thickly populated with these beautiful fish, which in- 

 crease with the Hioftt marvelous rapidity: The jDond in the centre 

 of the Clarendon Printing Office was stocked with these fish, and as 

 the spare water from the steam-engine used ia the works passed into 

 the pond, they throve amazingly. One unfortunate morning, the 

 surface of the pond was covered with Golden Carp, all floating dead. 

 Some verdigris had formed in some part of the engine, bad beea 

 washed into the pond, and had -poisoned all its finay inhabitants. 



Gold-fish appear to have been first brought to the United States 

 from England. They were rapidly diffused to every part of the 

 country. Formerly they were considered great rarities and were 

 seen only ia the parlors and conservatories of wealthy people, where, 

 iva their highly ornamented glass globes and vases, they attracted 

 much attention and admiration ; but now they are raised in po&ds for 

 sale, are kept by all classes of people in their houses for ornaments, 

 and form one of the usual attractions to the soda water fountain. la 

 these latter places they are kept in elegantly wrought marble vasea. 

 The keeping of them costs very little trouble, the principal precaution 

 accessary for their healthy existence being a frequent cJiange of 

 rater in the globe or vase in which they 



