The Inhabitants of the Aquarium 119 



In very good specimens the extreme ends 

 are soft and wavy. The back should be 

 strongly convex, fishes with a flat back- 

 line being undesirable. Fan-tails in which 

 the body has a more elongated and slender 

 form are generally American bred, the im- 

 ported fishes usually showing the egg-shaped 

 body. 



The Telescope Fish (Carassius auratus, var. 

 macro phthalmus) gets its name from its ab- 

 normally protruding eyes. In good speci- 

 mens the body should be very short and 

 thick, — as nearly globular as possible. The 

 tail, or caudal fin, is double and of medium 

 length, while the anal fin is frequently miss- 

 ing. The value of the Telescope fish is less 

 determined by the character of the different 

 fins than by the size, shape and position of 

 the eyes. The latter should be very large, 

 far protruding and globular, or better still 

 — cone shaped. Tubular eyes are frequent 

 but are not considered as good as the other 

 shapes. The eyes should also be of equal 



