Marine and Fresh-water Animals in Japan 527 



young of these years are also the best and 

 most delicate for eating and are the ones 

 most sold in the market. In the sixth 

 year they reach maturity and may begin 

 to deposit eggs, although not fully vigor- 

 ous till two or three years later. How 

 old these snapping turtles live to be is 

 not known. Those one foot and more in 

 length of carapace must be many years 

 old. 



"breeding to a point" to perfection, and 

 I have often been interested in hearing 

 some of them talk in a way which re- 

 minded me of passages in the "Origin of 

 the Species" or other Darwinian writ- 

 ings. This must be considered remark- 

 able, for these breeders are, as a general 

 thing, without much education, and have 

 obtained all their knowledge from the 

 practical handling of the fish. 



s^ 



The Denie-ranchu 



EXTRAORDINARY GOLD-FISH 



The gold-fish is the characteristically 

 oriental domesticated fish. Its beautiful 

 bright coloration and graceful form, with 

 long, flowing fins, appeal most strongly 

 to one's sense of the beautiful. It also 

 is intensely interesting from the scientific 

 standpoint, and proves a source of end- 

 less surprises to the biologist, for it is a 

 plastic material with which skillful breed- 

 ing can, within certain limits, do almost 

 anything. Our gold-fish breeders seem 

 to have understood the principle of 



The history of the gold-fish is lost in 

 obscurity. Like so many things in Japan, 

 it seems to be an importation from China. 

 There is a record that about four hundred 

 years ago — that is, about the year 1 500 — 

 some gold-fish were brought from China 

 to Sakai, a town near Osaka. The breed 

 then brought in is said to be that now 

 known as the "wakin." There must also 

 have been several later importations, and 

 the Japanese must have improved vastly 

 on the original forms, as in so many other 

 cases of things introduced from foreign 

 countries. 



