Timmins High and Vocational School - Porcupine Quill Yearbook (Timmins, Ontario Canada)

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75 - The PORCUPINE QUILL -l-l' few of her progeny, but during this Whole period the mother fish cannot be induced to take any food. The jewel fish, although very beautiful with its blue spots on red, cannot be introduced into an aquarium with other fish, as he is a lborn thug. He pulls up plants, wrecks bubble nests, murders other fish and chews the fins and tail off his own mate. xHe's no gentleman! The scalare, or angel fish is really the only peaceable mem- ber of this family and is known as the King of Aquarium Fishes. The accom- panying drawing best describes this fish, with his widespread fins and tail, his stream- ing fee1ers, and transverse black bars across pearly opalescent background. He becomes quite tame and will feed from one's fingers. Of the other classes mentioned there are no very striking members except perhaps the striped danios or zebras, which, always on the qui vive, add greatly to the activity of the aquarium. In stocking an aquarium it is well to select varieties which will live harmoniously to- gether! otherwise there Will be considerable adjustment is completed. fishes is not only an artistic home, school, oiiice, or hos- is also a source of never- and amusement. There is loss of life until A collection of adornment to a pital ward, but ending interest seemingly always something of great impor- tance going on in an aquarium. The colour- ful denizens are always hurrying here and scurrying there. We love beauty. We love mystery. The aquarium supplies both. Historical Pictures I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of My h-obby is gathering historical pictures. I can find them in many magazines, news- papers, and books. When we were in Senior IV we were told to make an art folio. We drew slips to find out what our topics should be, and mine Was historical pictures. I went home Wondering where I could get such things, and I was not in a very good mood. Dad asked me the reason for this, and so I told him. Well, he said, That will be easy. But I still didn't think so. I sat down and opened a book, forgetting all about my topic. On the first page there was a picture of a ruined building. As I looked more closely I saw that it was a, castle. Suddenly I thought This might be a his- torical picture. Excited and out of breath, I ran to Dad and asked him why it was there. He laughed and said, Well, I told you this would be interesting. You have a historical history. picture in your hand. fI'hat's Kenilworth Castle. From that time on I 'became very keen in my search. Dad was as interested as I. We were astonished at the number of places which we had thought were of no impor- tance until our search for pictures proved them to be famous. There were times when we weren't certain of the reason for the importance of places until we had looked them up in the dictionary and encyclopaedia. These historical pictures not only helped meg even Dad found out a number of facts he hadn't known. Some of the outstanding pictures in my collection are:-Windsor Castle, where the British Royal family liveg signing of the Magna Chartag Cleopatra, the glamorous Queen of Egyptg George Washington, the first president of the United States. These are only a few of the interesting pictures in my collection. CHERRY GAUTHIER Let no man think that sudden in a minute All is accomplished and the work is done: F. W. H. Myers Every page has something of interest to you.

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74 1+v. . The PORCUPINE QUILL T rather easily. These fish are called tropi- cals because they are natives of tropical countries, the tropics of Asia, Africa and the Americas. They are somewhat smaller than goldfish -and at first sight are not as flashy. In strong sunlight, however, they sparkle with an irridescence which goldfish lack. Their habits are much more interesting than those of goldfish and a few of their domestic relationships are so weird that the average person scoffs when told the plain truth about some of these interesting pets. The following are descriptions of some of the varieties of Tropicals which the writer has observed in his own tanks The corn- moner varieties fall under the following gen- eral headings:-Live-'bearers iviviparousl, Bubble-nest builders, Cichlids, Barbs, Da- nios and Chanacins. Of the live-bearers, the guppyi are the commonest and best known. The males are less than an inch long, of brilliant rainbow colouring with black spots, no two marked exactly alike, the females are longer, bulkier and dull silver-coloured. The next best are the platyi or moons, which are ultramarine, gold-yellow, copper-red, p1u'e red, black, or hybrid in colour. Of the helleri, the Mexican swordtails are the most interesting. The longitudinal red stripe on the green body changes to a yellow and black stripe as 15 passes into the tail and although the tail of the female is the ordinary fantail, that of the male becomes a long-drawn-out pointed streamer. The characteristic of the bubble nest builders is that in spawning time the male builds a nest composed of bubbles formed from -a mucous generated in his mouth at this period. The male shows off before his mate, and as she spawns, he takes the eggs one by one into his mouth, attaches a bubble, and floats them up into the fairy nest. In a few days the eggs hatch and the young fish begin to wrlggle. Every once in a while a baby fish falls out of the nest, whereupon the male takes it in his mouth, attaches a bubble, and floats it back into the 2-41112510 cradle. This goes on until the young ish are able to care for themselves. During this whole period the male will not allow any fish to come near his nest and he asserts hiS position as the head of his household by driving the mate away whenever she comes near. The paradise fish was one of the first tropicals of this type to be imported. Its colours vary according to the tempera- tures of the water and the state of excite- ment of the fish. They are generally dark in colour, dull red stripes against a blue back- groundg in prime condition the ends of their tails sparkle with a brilliant metallic blue. Their tins and tails are quite long and can be spread at will. The gourami, less showy fishes, come under this classification. The bettas also belong to this group. They come in various brilliant colors and have extreme- ly long fins and tails. One type is the fa- mous cambodia which is bred by the Siamese 1 ii f I47 fialfe 6 A s 1' T ff jf ,ff . 2:1 ,rf . ' ' ':-iff! f 'fi cj fulf X msg NZ! 3 -gg ,845-9. nobility: they match the males in fights, much as the Mexican matches gamecocks, The cichlids, from Africa and South Amer- ica, are noted for their pugnacity and for guarding their young. One very interesting variety, the mouth-breeder, takes her own eggs after fertilization into her very large mouth and carries them around wherever she goes. As water circulation is required for most fish eggs, this is supplied through the action of the gills. In a few days the eggs hatch, but the young fish still keep to the mo-ther's mouth. When they get older, they swim out occasionally to investigate their surroundings, but at the slightest sign of danger, they rush back again into the ma- ternal jaw. As fish eggs and young fish are among the choicest tid-bits of fish-food, and as most fish are cannibalistic, it is a wonder that the mother is not tempted to swallow a.

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76 The PORCUPINE QUILL - d Coach Building . Building miniatures of famous coaches is a most interesting h-obby and appeals to mo- dern boys with a creative spirit. You do not need an expensive set of tools, or special wood and materials, to engage in this pursuit. In fact it is much more instructive to fash- ion almost everything you use yourself-to make special tools to go into all the little corners out of the ends of old files. Very few tools are necessary-some models have been built with little more than a jack-knife- and you can get almost all the material you need from box-wood and scrap lying around the house. To transform a bunch of junk into a masterpiece of beauty is an achieve- ment worth while. Not only is this pastime interesting, it is also instructiveg for one must learn to be patient and pnecise when working on little things if he wishes to create ia beautiful ex- ample of craftsmanship. There are many coaches which may be built-the glamorous Royal Mail of England with its bevy of armed guards, the stage- coach of such importance in the last cen- tury-fbringing back the spirit of the bad old days. Then there is the famous Napoleonic coach in which Napoleon rode to his coron- ation. and other notable examples of coach- craft worth copying. JAMES BROWN Bulb Growing Growing bulbs is an interesting hobby. It is fun to watch for the first sign of life, to see the first green sprout poking its head upward, and to wait patiently for the bud. And when the bud opens, and there is H beautiful nower, we are more than repaid for the time we have spent, and only wish we had planted more. I planted paper-white narcissus for the first time, last fall. A dish of pebbles, a sunny window, and water enough to cover the pebbles are all that is necessary. The paper-white narcissus can be placed in the sunshine las soon as they are planted, and when they bloom they fill the room with a fragrant perfume. Bulbs in the home during the winter make spring seem a little nearer, especially in Tim- mins, where our winters are So long and flowers are so scarce. A. C. M. Architecture Ever since I can remember I have been in- terested in buildings, but it was only last year that I conceived the idea of collecting pict1u'e-s of them. I had to make a scrap book for my school work, in which were to be pictures of buildings as well as of many other things. When the book was complete, I discovered that I had unconsciously saved many pic- tLu'es of architecture that appealed to me, and had stored them away in portfolios, or whatever it was convenient to keep them in. In this way I began what is now a fascina- ting hobby. One of my most prized pictures is of a ferryboat built for fun making. The ferry- boat is really a grown-up play house, and iS used especially for entertaining. The build- ing is an exact duplicate of a ferryboat, with pilot house, life boats, deck, and iron gates complete. The prow of the boat is realisti- cally resting in the water of a large swim- ming pool, and the whole effect is made beautiful by trees. It is great fun to look at a plan and ima- gine what the house would look like. It is even more fun to imagine what the man who made the plans is like. Is he really inter- ested in his work? Has he imagination? Does he like comfort? Does he think of others rather than of himself? I find the answers to these questions in the plans. Even after writing this long, and exceed- ingly dry account, about which, despite my efforts to make it interesting, you Will doubt- less exclaim: How dreadfully boring! I can still truthfully say that I am very much interested in architecture. .. BARBARA LUCAS