CULTIVATION OF MARINE AND FRESH-WATER ANIMALS IN JAPAN. 267 



of them talk in a way which reminded me of passages in the "Origin of the 

 Species" or other Darwinian writings. This must be considered remarkable, for 

 these breeders are, as :i general thing, without much education, and have obtained 

 all their knowledge from the practical handling of the fish. 



The history of the gold-fish is lost in obscurity. Like so many things in Japan, 

 it seems to be an importation from ( )hina. There is a record that about four hundred 

 years ago — that is. about the year L500 some goldfish were brought from China to 

 Sakai, a town near Osaka. The breed then brought in is said to be that now known 

 as the " wakin." There must also have been several later importations and the Japa- 

 nese must have improved vastly on the original forms, as in so many other cases of 

 things introduced from foreign countries. Several varieties have thus resulted, but 

 before proceeding to describe these I may say a few words about gold-fish in general. 

 A characteristic of the gold-fish, no matter of what variety, is that the black pigment 

 with which the body is uniformly colored when first hatched from the egg disappears 

 in a year or so and gives place to bright colors, which are of various shades between 

 carmine and vermilion red and which may lie either spread all over the body or 

 variegated with white in va- 

 rious <h 'gives. A fish that I i \, 

 is entirely white fetches no 

 price in the market, and is 

 mercilessly eliminated in the 

 first year. A fish with the 

 white body variegated with 

 red around the lips and on 

 the opercula and all the tins 

 is considered to have the best 

 coloration. The dorsal fin 

 is either single or absent. 

 The tail may remain simple, as in ordinary fishes, but should best split open and 

 spread out horizontally, when it is therefore three-lobed (cut 3, </), but quite as 

 frequently it may be split in the median lines, when it is four-lobed (cut ?>. //). 

 The anal fin may also very often split open and become paired." 



There arc five well-established varieties of the gold-fish in Japan, and in addition 

 one or two which have not become so common as yet. 1 will go over these varieties 

 briefly (compare pis. iv and v): 



1. The "wakin 1 ' (literally "Japanese gold-fish"). This has a shape nearest the 

 normal form of a fish. The body is slender and long, closely resembling that of the 

 common crucian carp. The tail may be single, vertical, and normal, but should, to 

 be a good form, split open and become either three-lobed or four-lobed. This may. 

 in short, be characterized as the bright-colored variety of the common Carassius 

 auratus with or without the modified tail. 



2. The "ryukin" (literally "Loochoo" gold-fish), also called the "Nagasaki". 

 The first name may possibly denote whence the variety came originally. The body 



« For further details see S. Watase: "On the Caudal and Anal Fins of Goldfishes." Journal 

 Science College, Vol. I, p. 247, PI. xvm-xx. 



Cut 3.— Diagram of the tail of a gold-fish, a, Three lobed; '<, four-lobed. 



