GOLDFISH (Cyprinus or Carassius auratus)  , a small fish belonging to the Cyprinid family, a native of China but natur- Telescope-fish . alized in other countries . In the wild state its colours do not differ from those of a Crucian carp, and like that fish it is tenacious of life and easily domesticated . Albinos seem to be rather common; and as in other fishes (for instance, the tench, carp, eel, flounder), the colour of most of these albinos is a bright orange or golden yellow; occasionally even this shade of colour is lost, the fish being more or less pure white or silvery . The Chinese have domesticated these albinos for a long time, and by careful selection have succeeded in propagating all those strange varieties, and even monstrosities, which appear in every domestic animal . In some individuals the dorsal fin is only half its normal length, in others entirely absent; in others the anal fin has a double spine; in others all the fins are of nearly double the usual length . The snout is frequently malformed, giving the head of the fish an appearance similar to that of a bull-dog . The variety most highly prized has an extremely short snout, eyes which almost wholly project beyond the orbit, no dorsal fin, and a very long three- or four-lobed caudal fin (Telescope-fish) . The domestication of the goldfish by the Chinese dates back from the highest antiquity, and they were introduced into Japan at the beginning of the 16th century; but the date of their importation into Europe is still uncertain . The great German ichthyologist, M . E . Bloch, thought he could trace it back in England to the reign of James I., whilst other authors fix the date at 1691 .

It appears certain that they were brought to

France, only much later, as a present to Mme de Pompadour, although the de Goncourts, the historians of the mistresses of Louis XV., have failed to trace any records of this event . The fish has since spread over a considerable part of Europe, and in many places it has reverted to its wild condition . In many parts of south-eastern Asia, in Mauritius, in North and South Africa, in Madagascar, in the Azores, it has become thoroughly acclimatized, and successfully competes with the indigenous fresh-water fishes . It will not thrive in rivers; in large ponds it readily reverts to the coloration of the original wild stock . It flourishes best in small tanks and ponds, in which the water is constantly changing and does not freeze; in such localities, and with a full supply of food, which consists of weeds, crumbs of bread, bran, worms, small crustaceans and insects, it attains to a length of from 6 to 12 in., breeding readily, sometimes at different times of the same year .