210 
GOLDEN CARP. 
in porcelain vessels, or in the small basons that 
decorate the courts of the Chinese houses. They 
provide for them an earthen vessel with holes in the 
sides, and turn it upside down in the basin where 
they are kept, that at any time when the sun is too 
powerful for them, they may have a place to which 
the}^ can retire to avoid its influence. A very little 
food is requisite to support these fish, a few wafers 
being sufficient to nourish them for some time : 
they are occasionally fed with bread crumbs, small 
worms, the yolk of eggs dried and powdered, and 
other substances of the like nature. Their water 
should be changed three or four times a week, and 
the fish taken out with a net, as they are too deli- 
cate to bear handling. 
We are told that in China, where the gold fish are 
kept in ponds, they are regularly fed, and taught 
to rise to the surface at the sound of a bell, in order 
to receive their nourishment. It is singular that the 
fry when first excluded should be quite black, after 
which they turn white, and then of a gold colour. 
The most brilliant colours are to be found on the 
smallest fish, which exhibit a rich metallic golden 
hue, with a cast of scarlet in the upper parts, and 
of silver on the lower. Some are perfectly white 
like silver, others have an irregular mixture of white 
spotted with red. All are beautiful while living, 
but lose their lustre when dead. The females are 
distinguished from the other sex by several white 
spots near the gills, and the pectoral fins. 
Dr. Shaw remarks that no fish is subject to so 
