210 GOLDEN CARP. 



domestic or cultivated state, as the Gold-Fish ; not 

 only the colour of the body, but even the form and 

 number of the fins differing greatly in different in- 

 dividuals. The most general colour, in the full- 

 grown animal, is a rich and splendid metallic golden 

 hue, accompanied by a cast of scarlet on the upper 

 parts, and of silver on the lower, the fins being of 

 a bright and vivid red : in others, the upper part 

 of the fish is varied with several large black or 

 deep blue patches : in some the colour is an irre- 

 gular mixture of gold and silver, and when the ani- 

 mal is in a very young state it is frequently seen 

 entirely of a black or dusky tinge ; the back fin is 

 sometimes either wanting altogether, or consists 

 only of a very few rays united by their connecting 

 membrane : the anal fin is very frequently double, 

 having a similar appearance with the ventral fins : 

 the tail, which even in its natural state is said to be 

 often trifid, becomes still more strikingly so in the 

 cultivated kind, and so formed as to appear hori- 

 zontal, the middle part or lobe rising up between 

 the side-parts. 



The Gold-Fish has been so long a favourite in 

 our own country, where it now breeds with almost 

 equal facility with the Carp, that a very particular 

 description of the manner of keeping and feeding 

 it becomes in a great degree unnecessary: it is 

 nourished with fine bread-crumbs, small worms and 

 water-snails, yolk of eggs dried and powdered, and 

 many other substances both of an animal and 

 vegetable nature : it should at all times, except in 

 extreme cold weather, be supplied with a frequent 



