Baltimore. One of these was presented to the 

 New York Aquarium established by W. C. Coup 

 and Reiche and Bro. The "Guide to the Aquar- 

 ium" which is profusely illustrated, contains a 

 cut of this fish which appeared later in Mulertt's 

 book and "The Aquarium" a small monthly 

 paper published by him as "The Fringe-Tail." 

 This cut I have also seen used to describe the 

 "Schleierschwanze" or "Veil-Tail", the German 

 name for that type of fish. The "Guide" is 

 not dated but some letter heads illustrated with 

 a picture of the interior of the Aquarium, which 

 was located at 3 5th St. and Broadway, are dated 

 1876 and 1877. 



Mr. M. Gillet Gill had many years before told 

 me his experiences in bringing these fish over 

 but the details had escaped my memory, so in 

 1909 1 asked his nephew, Mr. Ernest A. Gill, 

 what he knew concerning the matter and I insert 

 his answer: "It is rather hard for me to give you 

 any positive dates or description of the bringing 

 of the Japanese fish to this city as it was a little 

 before my time, but my older cousin, who has 

 a good memory, tells me that my uncle, Mr. 

 M. Gillet Gill, brought the fish I think you have 

 reference to, in himself on his last trip from 

 Japan about 1875. They came to San Francisco 

 and he used to tell some very interesting stories 

 about the numerous troubles he had in bringing 

 the fish across the continent. At one place in 

 Nebraska my cousin tells me that the train was 

 stalled in the snow for several days and my uncle 

 had the fish packed in snow to keep them to 

 show the people at home, but to his surprise 

 they survived this hard treatment and lived to 

 breed in ponds he had in his yard in the city. 

 He afterward stocked the fountain that was at 

 the Centennial Exhibition and was bought by the 

 City of Baltimore, through him. This is all I 

 can find out about them except that Henry 

 Bishop got what fish were left in the fountain. 

 The others died for want of proper care and 

 interest". 



In "The Aquarium" for January 1880, Mulertt 

 «ays: "In one of the tanks at the Cincinnati 

 Aquarium the visitor will observe some odd 



54 



