The illustration accompanying this ar- 

 ticle was made from one of the best veil- 

 tail telescopes I have ever seen, yet expert 

 judges will recognize that it is not perfect. 

 The body is not as deep from top to bot- 

 tom as it should be. Otherwise it is a re- 

 markable fish. The dorsal fin is high and 

 always erect. In being judged on points 

 by the American system the dorsal fin 

 would receive 1 5 ; the tails which are very 

 broad, long and fully divided, 20; anal 

 fins double 5 ; ej'^es protrude like small mar- 

 bles from the head, and both of same size, 

 20 ; color, 20. It was extremely variegated 

 in black, white, cream, yellow, lavender, 

 blue, brown, red and pale gray. The 

 photograph can give no idea of this gor- 

 geous yet delicate sprinkling of color. 

 Body 16 out of a possible 20, giving 96 out 

 of a possible 100. The American system 

 does not take into account the length of 

 anal and pectoral fins, as they usually cor- 

 respond with the tail. The fish was trans- 

 parently scaled, but I have noticed that the 

 scales show more in a photograph than 

 tliey do to the eye in this type of fish. 

 This was a male two years old, and was 

 photographed in breeding season, as can 

 be seen by the fact that the tubercles on 

 the gill plate are plainly visible. The 

 illustration is about half life size. 



The Household Aquarium 



(Concluded) 



Sam'l McCi.ahv, 3d, M.D. 

 Philadelphia 



The scavengers should be watched care- 

 fully, as dead ones pollute the water and 

 cause trouble. Snails should be examined 

 occasionally and mussels if toppt when 

 alive will close their shells. Abovit once a 

 week or oftener, it is wise to use a di))ping 

 tube or siphon to remove the humus and 

 precipitate, whicli collect on the bottom, 

 and it will ne/irly all be found in the de- 

 pression previously mentiond, so it is eas- 

 ily removed. Tadpoles and snails remove a 

 large amount of this material. I believe we 



should have at least one good-sized snail 

 for each fish and preferably two or three. 

 Tadpoles are not lookt upon very favor- 

 ably by me, as they stir up the lower 

 layers too much and scatter the debris but 

 if used, one for every two or three fish is 

 sufficient. 



Mussels keep the water clear of small 

 particles and to a certain extent act as a 

 constant filter. Feeding is a very import- 

 ant matter and should be taken up in detail 

 in a subsequent paper. Most foods are 

 too concentrated, that is they have not enuf 

 bulk for the amount of nutrition containd, 

 and frequently cause constipation. I find 

 the following recipe makes a very satis- 

 factory general food. Take cornmeal 

 flour, one pound ; Bethlehem oatmeal, one 

 pound ; shredded codfish, one pound ; four 

 eggs, table salt, a tablespoonf ul ; epsom 

 salts, a tablespoonful; mix thoroughly and 

 add enougli water to make a paste, steam 

 four hours, then dry thoroughly in the oven 

 after it has been spread out in thin layers 

 in pans. After it is dried it may be ground 

 up in an ordinary kitchen food chopper, 

 in pans, after it is dried it may be ground 

 up with an ordinary kitchen food chopper. 

 One food should not be used constantly, 

 but should be varied by using other foods 

 at intervals. Most people feed entirely 

 too much and too often, once every other 

 day is enuf in Winter and once a day 

 in Summer for fish over six months old, 

 younger fish should be fed oftener. No 

 food should remain fifteen minutes after 

 it is given. It should not be allowd to float 

 around })romiscuously. A good plan is to 

 have a large circular piece of cork directly 

 above a bare space on the bottom and drop 

 the food into this so that when it sinks it 

 will not lodge on plants or be hidden to 

 ferment and decompose. Live food such 

 as daphnias should be fed whenever it is 

 ]iossible to get them. 



I have already mentiond the dipping 

 lube and siphon. The net is very im- 



12 



