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BULLETIN OK THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



others, and therefore easier to rear. The "ryukin" is next the "wakin" in its 

 nearness to the original < 'arassi/us. It is still like an ordinary fish, although its short- 

 ened body and long flowing fins show that changes have already gone very far. The 

 " ranchu " seems further removed from the original type, as its globular body and 

 the absence of the dorsal tin well testify. The relations that these three varieties 

 hold to one another are involved in obscurity. Some think that the "ryukin" is a 

 cross between the " wakin " and the "ranchu," but I think that this can hardly be so. 

 I am inclined to think that the " ryukin " must have been bred from ancestors some- 

 what like the "■ wakin" by careful selection, and that the "ranchu" is the offshoot of 

 another branch which must have separated from the "wakin" stem very early. 

 The cross between the " ryukin " and the "ranchu" is the " oranda-shishigashira," 

 and this crossed again with the "ranchu" is the "shukin." An interesting fact is 

 that in the first cross both the dorsal and the tail tins are long, but in the second 

 cross the dorsal fin is lost, while the tail is not only retained but remains long. 

 Expressed in a diagram, the supposed genealogy would lie as follows: 



RYUKIN 



ORANDA-SHISHIGASHIRA 



The gold-fish is very common in Japan and more or less reared in all parts, but 

 the main centers of cultivation are Tokyo, Osaka, and Koriyama (a small town near 

 Nara, where almost every household engages in this business). Each of these places 

 has its own peculiarities in the method of raising, but the differences are. on the 

 whole, in minor details only. In Tokyo gold-fish breeders are all located in low-lying 

 parts of the city, where ponds, a sine qua non of this business, can be easily made. 



One establishment is very much like another, the principal differences being 

 in the number and size of ponds. Figure '1, plate i, gives a view of a typical one. 

 There is always a number of shallow ponds, as shown in the foreground of the pho- 

 tograph. (In the particular place where this photograph was taken I think I counted 

 ten.) Fortunately, water had been drained off the nearest pond and one can sec its 

 construction and depth without further explanation. The shallow dishes slung b\ 

 three strings from bamboo poles stuck in the muddy bottom of the pond, seen in the 

 photograph, are the dishes in which food is given to the gold-fish. Besides these 

 shallow ponds there is always a large number of shallow square cement basins of 

 various sizes, some as small as :! feet by .".. others as large as L2 feet by 12, with 



