Marine and Fresh-water Animals in Japan 529 



Of all the extraordinary and odd- 

 looking" fishes, the deme-ranchu certainly 

 is far in the lead in many respects, and is 

 interesting- as showing how far man can 

 proceed in modifying nature. It is a 

 telescope-fish with a short globular body, 

 without the dorsal fin. The eyes have 

 assumed a most extraordinary position. 

 The ordinary telescope-fish is odd 

 enough, with the eyes protruding, but in 

 this variety dislocation has gone one step 

 further. The eyes have not only started 

 out of the head, but have turned upward 

 90 degrees, and have their pupils looking 

 straight skyward. For this reason I 

 should be inclined to call this "astronom- 

 ical telescope-fish." As a fish, it is so 

 monstrous that it gives one almost un- 

 comfortable feelings. 



All young gold-fish just hatched are 

 dark in color, the bright colors com- 

 ing only later. A great deal of experi- 

 ence and skill is needed in making the 

 gold-fish change its color from black to 

 red. If a person who is not an expert 

 tries his hand at raising a lot of young 

 gold-fish he will find to his sorrow that 

 the fish remain black and do not assume 

 bright colors, while those which may be 

 from the very same lot of eggs, but have 

 been under the care of a professional 

 breeder, may have all donned the beau- 

 tiful hues. The essential points to be at- 

 tended to in bringing about this change 

 seem to be ( i ) that the young fish should 

 be given plenty of food; (2) that they 

 should be exposed to the sun's rays and 

 be kept as warm as possible, and (3) that 

 the water of the pond in which the young- 

 are kept should be changed occasionally, 

 although sudden transfer from warm to 

 cold water in the middle of the day is to 

 be avoided. The chancre of color begins 

 in about sixty to eighty days from the 

 time of hatching, and by the middle of 

 August the fish should all have lost the 

 dark pigment and acquired bright colors. 



I have just now no available statistics 

 in regard to the output of gold-fish, hut 

 the number produced must be millions 

 upon millions. It shows the power of 

 children in the nation, for they are par 



excellence the customers of these estab- 

 lishments. It is said that in the old 

 regime, even in years when a famine was 

 stalking in the land and hundreds were 

 dying from starvation, there was a toler- 

 able trade in gold-fish, proving the truth 

 of an old proverb : "Crying children and 

 landlords must not be disputed." 



THE PEARL OYSTER 



Various kinds of pearl oysters are 

 found in the southern semi-tropical 

 islands of Japan, but the only one which 

 is at all common in Japan proper is the 

 species Avicula martensii Dunker. This 

 pearl oyster is found more or less along 

 the whole of the coast of Japan, but there 

 are some localities famous for producing 

 it in quantities. Such are Shima, Omura 

 (province Hizen in Kiushiu), Noto, 

 Tosa, etc., and some fine pearls have been 

 obtained from these places. 



In 1890 I suggested to a Mr Mikimoto, 

 a native of Shima, who had grown up 

 and lived in the midst of the pearl- 

 producing district, the desirability of cul- 

 tivating the pearl oyster, and I pointed 

 out to him also the possibility of making 

 the pearl oyster produce pearls by giving 

 artificial stimuli. He at once proceeded 

 to experiment on it. The results have 

 been beyond expectations, and today the 

 Mikimoto pearl-oyster farm, put on a 

 commercial basis, has millions of pearl 

 oysters living on its culture grounds, and 

 is able to place annually a large crop of 

 pearls on the market. 



The pearl oyster farm is in the Bay of 

 Ago, on the Pacific side of central Japan, 

 a few miles south of the famous Temple 

 of Ise. The bay, like all in which the 

 pearl oyster grows in abundance, is a 

 very quiet piece of water with a most 

 irregular, highly broken-up coast line full 

 of deep-running inlets, coves, etc., with 

 a depth of 3 to 7 fathoms, and affording 

 most favorable shelter. Somewhat out 

 of the center of the bay to the north there 

 is a little island called Tadoko, where the 

 land part of the enterprise, necessary 

 buildings, etc., are placed, and where 



