After keeping a number of specimens for several months, feeding them on all sorts of things, often leaving them in the same water for weeks, till it was green and stagnant, without! harming them in any way, and finally noting the avidity with which they consume any mosquito larvae placed in their tanks, I do not hesitate to say that everything points to this species, mord than other of the fish available in these parts, being the onq with which to combat the mos; quite pest.
It is a small species, never exceeding three of four inches in length, It will live in any water, no matter how stagnant. It is extremely voracious, and will eat large numbers of wrigglers in a day. And it is not a food fish, which means that a pond containing only this species will be left alone by the Chinese. This last is a very important point. Therd remains only breeding experiments to be'carried out, which, of course, cannot be done in small aquaria, but must be done on a large scale.
One might suggest that the Municipal Health Department' acquire some suitable ponds and experiment on an extensive scale in order to see whether or not these little fish can be raised in! sufficiently large numbers to supply all the ponds, tanks, artificial waters, and stagnant pools in the vicinity of Shanghai, and so do what has been done with such marked success in America.
The paradise fish is said td make a nest of mud and weeds, in which the female lays her eggs, and which is subsequently guarded by the male. This means that special arrangements for breeding will have to be made,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.