THE GOLDFISH AND ITS CULTURE. 15 
I have been told of pet goldfish kept in a lake on the 
estate of a Chinese gentleman in China that would follow the 
rowboat of this gentleman when he was boating on the lake,” 
come to the side of it in order to be taken from their element 
and caressed by his hands. In an aquarium they become very 
tame. I had one specimen, a comet, that had formed friend- 
ship with my dog, a little spaniel ; the two would play togeth- 
er, for half an hour some days, through the glass sides of the 
tank as well as from the surface of the water. They kept this 
friendship up for several years, being ended by the death of 
the fish. I have had fish in an aquarium so tame that they 
would, without coaxing or force, swim into the hollow of my 
hand when held in the water, allowing themselves to be lifted 
from the water and shown to visitors, Others I had trained to 
call for their food by ringing a bell. For this purpose a little 
silver bell with a lever had been placed on top of the aqua- 
rium frame, and the end of a string, attached to the lever, was 
allowed to hang in the water, At first a little food was stuck 
to the string-end as an inducement to take it into their 
mouths and thus ring the bell, which action would be answered 
by me with a limited supply of food. They soon learned the 
advantage of a “pull” and used it so frequently that the string 
was lowered in the water only at proper meal times. 
Even in their wild state goldfish are harmless creatures. 
They have but one fault, if it be one, and this they have in 
common with all our pets—they do not live for ever. But 
even here, at the sad end of their existence, a new and per- 
plexing fact is revealed to us, and perhaps is in their favor, 
for although we attended carefully to their wants day and 
night, became accustomed to their company for years, our re- 
lation towards one another never exceeded that of a formal 
