196 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
a greater similiarity to this fish than any other we have 
mentioned, we give it a place here as an appendage to the 
bleak, rather than form a distinct article of a fish which it 
is impossible to class with certainty. 
It is evident that it is of the carp or cyprinus genus ; it has 
onlythree branchiostegous rays, and only one dorsal fin ; and 
in respect to the form of the body, it is compressed like 
that of the bleak. 
Its usual length is two inches; the under jaw is the 
longest ; the irides silvery, the pupil black ; the dorsal fin 
is placed nearer to the head than to the tail, and consists 
of about fourteen rays : the side line is strait ; the tail is 
forked, the tips black. 
The head, sides, and belly, are silvery ; the back tinged 
with green. 
The Minow is frequently found in many of our small 
gravelly streams, where they keep in shoals. 
The body is slender and smooth, the scales being ex- 
tremely small. It seldom exceeds three inches in length. 
The lateral line is of a golden colour ; the back flat, and 
of a deep olive ; the sides and belly vary greatly in dif- 
ferent fish ; in a few are of a rich crimson, in others blueish, 
in others white. The tail is forked, and marked near the 
base with a dusky spot. 
The Gold Fish. These fish are now quite naturalized 
in Europe, and breed as freely in the open waters as the 
common carp. 
They were first introduced into England about the year 
1691, but were not generally known till 1728, when a 
great number were brought over, and presented first to Sir 
Matthew Dekker, and by him circulated round the neigh- 
bourhood of London, whence they have been distributed 
to most parts of the country. 
In China the most beautiful kinds are taken in a small 
lake in the province of Che-Kyang. Every person of 
fashion keeps them for amusement, either in porcelain ves- 
sels, or in the small basons that decorate the courts of the 
Chinese houses. The beauty of their colours, and their 
lively motions, give great entertainment, especially to the 
ladies, whose pleasures, by reason of the cruel policy of 
that country, are extremely limited. 
In the form of the body they bear a great resemblance 
to a carp. They have been known in Europe to arrive at 
the length of eight inches ; in their native place they are 
said to grow to the size of our largest herring. 
