102) 
iny' the attainment of the. projected) form. lw sone 
direction an endeavor to so alter and adapt the bony 
frame-work as to enable it to’sustain the utmost possible 
amount of finely marbled beef has given us our massive 
short horns and Herefords; in another we have the 
small and graceful Ayrshire or Jersey so modelled as to 
give the largest development of udder; and to each 
and all there has likewise been imparted increased 
docility and gentleness. Our fruits and vegetables, 
under judicious and enlightened culture, have also under- 
gone astonishing improvement, but the promise of the 
future is far greater than the accomplishment of the 
present. Having moulded animal and vegetable forms 
so nearly to our taste, it remains for us to attempt as 
much with our fish. Can we not also with painstaking 
endeavor so modify their habits, form and structure, in 
accordance with our desire? We certainly, from our 
success in similar lines of effort, lack no encouragement 
apart from what has already been accomplished, afford- 
ing sufficient demonstration that fish lend themselves 
as readily to the breeder’s skill as do other forms of life. 
Fish kept in so called tanks in India have been observed 
to become superior in size and of more brilliant coloring 
to those left in the rivers. This change has probably 
been effected by the selection of the smallest and most 
unattractive, leaving to the larger and more brilliantly 
colored the continuance of their kind. Carp, doubtless 
for the same reason, have assumed beauty of appearance 
and increase of size, and if considerations of table 
utility had prevailed over those of mere show, we would 
have possessed an uglier but more toothsome fish. 
Goldfish are a striking instance of what breeding and 
intercrossing can do, there being upwards of one 
hundred distinct varieties, all apparently evolved from a 
common dark colored stock. The various splendid 
colors, the diversity of form and other peculiarities have 
been developed by careful selections, and the persistence 
