296 GOLD-FISH. CHAp> vnr< 



GOLD-FlSH. 



Besides mammals and birds, few animals belonging to the 

 other great classes have been domesticated; but to show that it 

 is an almost universal law that animals, when removed from 

 their natural conditions of life, vary, and that races can be 

 termed when selection is applied, it is necessary to say a few 

 words on gold-fish, bees, and silk-moths. 



Gold-fish (Cyprinus auratus) were introduced into Europe 

 only two or three centuries ago; but it is believed that they 

 have been kept in confinement from an ancient period in China. 

 Mr. Blyth^ suspects from the analogous variation of other 

 fishes that golden-coloured fish do not occur in a state of nature. 

 These fishes frequently live under the most unnatural condi- 

 tions, and their variability in colour, size, and in some important 

 points of structure is very great. M. Sauvigny has described and 

 given coloured drawings of no less than eighty-nine varieties. 50 

 Many of the varieties, however, such as triple tail-fins, &c, 

 ought to be called monstrosities; but it is difficult to draw any 

 distinct line between a variation and a monstrosity. As gold- 

 fish are kept for ornament or curiosity, and as "the Chinese are 

 just the people to have secluded a chance variety of any kind, 

 and to have matched and paired from it," 51 we may feel nearly 

 confident that selection has been largely practised in the 

 formation of new breeds. It is however a singular fact that 

 some of the monstrosities or variations are not inherited; for Sir 

 E. Heron 52 kept many of these fishes, and placed all' the de- 

 formed fishes, namely those destitute of dorsal fins, and those 

 furnished with a double anal fin, or triple tail, in a pond by 

 themselves; but they did "not produce a greater proportion of 

 deformed offspring than the perfect fishes." 



Passing over an almost infinite diversity of colour, we meet 

 with the most extraordinary modifications of structure. Thus, ^ 



out of about two dozen specimens bought in London, Mr. Yarrell 

 observed some with the dorsal fin extending along more than 



49 The 'Indian Field,' 1858, p. 255. 1858, p. 255. 



50 Yarrell's 'British Fishes/ vol. i. « «Proc. "zoolog. Soc ' May 25th, 

 p. 319. 1842. 



51 Mr. Blyth, in the 'Indian Field/ 



