The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-01-03


beautiful specimens in town and their
peculiar characteristics Lay be of gen
eral interest, writes a New York cor.
respondent of the San Francisco
Chronicle.
In self-sustaining aquarium in New
York, containing about nine gallona
of water, are some varieties Of gold
fish of an aggregate value of nearly
$1,000. Clarence McKim, the banker,
is the possessor of this valuable tank
of fish. He has collected the specimens
at different times as they were import
ed to or bred in this country.
About the smallest and yet mos
!! prominent pair Of fish in this aquarium
is the telescope goldfish Of japan, Of
which variety there are not more than
ten specimens in New York. They are
OF q soft velvety black color, with
bright golden tints on the end OF
the scales. The body is dwarfed to
such an extent that the fish appears to
be almost round, while the beautiful
double tails droop. far below the ven
tral fins and give the fish the appear
ance Of wearing long train. The eyes
are as large as those found in FIVE
inch bul-frog and protrude beyond
the head to the same extent. These
fish are unusually intelligent and 80
tame that they can be fed from the
hand. Their regular diet consists Of a
small piece of fshwood wafer made Of
rice, -four and water, which is fed to
them every morning, and once week
small piece Of earth worm. After re-
ceiving the latter delicacy they usually
exhibit their qualification by stretch
ing the dorsal fin to the utmost and
swimming round and round after each
other, playing and curvetting among
the water plants in the aquarium in ar
amusing manner.
A few years ago, when Admiral Am
men, of the United States Navy, was in
Japan he tried very hard to get pair
of these fish for the purpose of breed
ing them and introducing them into
this country. He found, however,
that the MiAado was so jealous Of this
rare stock leaving the country that he
prohibited any dealing in this fish.
The Japanese fish culturist who pro-
duces this variety of fish produces
artifcially their peculiarities of shape
and color. Originally, they were bred
from the long, slender-bodied, SINGLE
tsil4sd gJ1S fs6, and Il requires untir-
:; ing patience on the part of the cultur-
ist to develop the peculiarities which
give the fish their value. The Japan
ese, it is said, take the fish when
young and place them in cylindrical
tube made of dark colored glass at
each end and with two openings of
clear glass above the eyes of the fish.
These cylinders are laid in the small
artificial ponds constructed for the
purpose, and the water is allowed to
pass freely through the tube. The
tendency OF the tiny fish is to swim
always toward the clear part of the
cylinder, and in time the eyes grow
out into the cavities made for the pur'
oose
The youngest daughter of the late
Colonel Elliot F. Shepard has in her
aquarium three fringe-tail goldfish.
One of the fish has brilliant carmine
color, making the ordinary American
goldfish look pale in comparison with
his glistening sides. He presents q
beautiful appearance by gaslight when
passing from side to SIDE in the
aquarium in search of tidbits from his
little mistress, Margherits. Besides
this fish, she has small American
striped dace, noted for their SYM
metrical form and swiftness in swim
ming. They will jump fully two feet
out of the water after small piece Of
scraped beef rolled up to look like an
sarthworm and impaled on broom
,trsw over the aquarium.
Master Arthur Gotthold, of West
Fifty-eighth street, raised nearly 100
three-spined sticklebacks this spring
from one pair. During period Of
ten days in April the larger Of these
two fish busted himself in excavating
large hole in the sand Of his
aquarium, carrying it little ct q time
in his mouth all the way across the
aquarium. After getting the hole
deep enough he commenced to pull
little bits of branches off some Of the
water-plants and piled them up until
! they formed the nest indicated, stop
ping every little while to press his
sides against the branches to cement
them in place with the mucus exuded
from his scales. Occasionally he would
swim head down and poke his nose in
the opening to maintain the proper
shape in the nest. He then made an
opening on the left-hand side near the
base, in such a way that the water
could pass freely in st one aperture
and out at the other During this
time the little builder changed in
color from an uninteresting slate hue
to brilliant red all over the chest and
| gill covers.
! After the eggs were deposited by
ais mate the fish took position about
an inch above the nest, with his head
toward the opening, and began to fan
vigorously with his pectoral fins fore
ing the water in through the top Of
the nest. From this time on for four
teen days he showed very little inter.
est in anything else. Instead Of feeding
ravenously he ate very little of the
fresh beef offered him every morning.
) Whenever he sd leave the nest for a
few seconds it was seemingly for the
purpose of swimming across the aqaar-
ium to numerically punish his unof-
Tending mate. At the end Of the fort
night the young fish were hatched,
!; but he still kept up the aerating pro-
cess over the nest until the tiny yelb
sacs attached to the bodies of the fry,