30 GOLDFISH VARIETIES AND 
start to “develop eyes” at anywhere from two months to even two years, 
it is impossible to tell whether or not they will become telescopes. The 
usual development period, however, is from three to five months. Should 
they pass ten months without turning, they may be safely called Japanese 
fringetails. Many such fishes that have come from telescope stock are 
used to breed to telescopes to produce telescopic young. This is usually 
successful in the first generation, but it has a tendency to spoil the breed 
by gradually reducing the size of the eyes. Telescope fishes of the present 
time are, for the most part, considerably inferior in point of eyes com- 
pared with the stock of fifteen years ago, due mainly to breeding too. ex- 
clusively for short bodies and long fins. Type characteristics in any kind 
of breeding can, like liberty, only be maintained at the price of eternal 
vigilance. 
Fic. 16. CHINESE SCALELESS TELEScorE (Dorsal view) 
THE CHINESE SCALELESS TELESCOPE GOLDFISH 
As before stated, “scaleless” is somewhat of a misnomer, the fish 
being transparently scaled, making the scales difficult to detect. We use 
the word “scaleless” in its accepted popular sense. 
