The species is extremely pugnacious, the males indulging in frequent fights, in which the winner or more aggressive chases the vanquished all over the place. The males also love to display themselves in front of the females, raising their dorsal and ana] fins to their full extent, spreading the tail-fin like a fan, and violently agitating the pgctoral- fins, while the ventral fins, long and tapering, and set well forward, hang motionless, or wave gently in_the water.
These fish are extremely attractive, especially in acquaria. They easily surpass the well known gold-fish, since, not only are they beautifully coloured, but they are much more sprightly and interesting in their habits. They become very tame, ard even allow themselves to be stroked gently with the finger. They will come to the surface to be fed, and will eat almost anything.
So attractive is this species. that in South China it has been specially bred and from it has been evolved the cultivated paradise fish, which at-one time was thought to be a distinct species, to: which was given the scientific name Macropodus viridiauratus. In this the fins are even longer than in the wild form, while the tail-fin instead of being rounded is forked, with two long streamers. The two forms are one and the same, so that the name paradise fish may be used for both.
The species is distributed all over this part of China, in ponds, streams, creeks and rivers, and I have preserved specimens from number of places in Kiangsu and Fukien provinces. There should be no difficulty in securing large quantities for experimental purposes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.