Evening star., 1934-01-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| A smaller glass, such as Is used by
older persons for looking at telephone
numbers and the like, will do well
enough for average fishes.
A still smaller one, but with greater
powers OF enlargement, Is essential In
order to see the real fishes, in all the
beauty Of their colorations.
| X n X
! We have not had the experience of
using very high-powered glasses, 10
magnif1cations being our limit. One
may doubt whether, for ordinary pur-
poses, more power would be feasible, as
1t is difficult enough task as it Is To
focus on moving objects, and especially
ones moving as swiftly as your average
male Guppy.
The higher the degree of magnifica-
| ton, the closer must be the focus, OF
exact point of adjustment between the
object and the eye. 1t Is the same
with camera lenses; the better they are,
and the more expensive, the finer must
be the focus. A cheap lens of small
power does not require so close an ad-
/ justment.
In looking at fishes through mag
nifying glasses, therefore, it is well to
keep this in mind. Get as much mag
niflcation as possible, but it will be
trouble enough at the best, and the
greater the more trouble Just how the
glass affects the fishes we do not know
but there must be something about it
they do not like, some way or other, be-
cause they skirt around the lens very
neatly, only occasionally coming within
range, and then they do not stay very
| long.
Much patience will be required, but
the brief glanceS one gets, from time
| m time will ha yry0rtI, II thu frOffhla
X X X
Few fishes will reward the patient
locker as well as the humble Guppy,
most popular uf the tropical fishes kept
in home aquaria.
If the male fish were only larger, so
that the blending of his colors could
be seen as well with the unaided eye
as through glass, this little creature
would be even more popular than he Is
One thing, he would not have to suffer
the polite sneers Of those who know
little about tropical fishes, and who
therefore. are very positive in their
likes and dislikes. "Oh, I don't like
Guppies," they say. Those who have
kept various sorts of popular fishes
come in time, and practically every
time, to real regard and admiration
for this animal, no matter what their
first opinion was, it is at once so trust
worthy, so hardy, so capable of taking
care Of itself, SO pleasing in its ways
and bright in its true colors, as we
have tried to bring out.
If the male Guppy were 2 inches
long nobody could fail to see him lin
his true colors," and surely no one who
so sees him, with or without glasses,
can help but give him the need of ad-
miration he deserves.
X X 4
The point about the Guppy Is that
the color is there, but the exquisite
blendings cannot be appreciated with
out magnification.
The subtle graduations, which carry
one tint into another, and out again,
are lost to the naked eye The very
splotches of color seem hard to the un-
aided eye, whereas through even small
magniflcation they appear at their true
beauty in blending.
All fishes yield some of this aspect,
but few as much as the humble Guppy
The angriest Beta. in fighting regalia,
lacks the patina of the Guppy, those
gradual mergingS of colors, effects
achieved so remarkably.
The best way tc focus on the fish is
to place the glass SO that it catches
one specimen right-and then wait pa
tiently until others come into the same
range. 1t may require some time, but
the revelation Of beauty will be worth it