POPULAR WORK ON BRITISH FERNS.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED, PRICE HALF A CROWN,
A PLAIN AND EASY ACCOUNT
OP
THE BEITISH TEENS,
WHEREIN
Each Species is described xinder its respective Genus,
and tlie Characteristics of those Genera given
in words of common use.
WITH
A GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS.
BY THE
REV. E. BOSAKQUET, M.A.
SECOND EDITION, '^ENLARGED AND RE-AEEANGED.
" The present treatise is the simplest that has yet been published
on the subject of British Ferns. It is a successful attempt to give,
in a popular form, an easy and satisfactory outline of this branch of
Botany. It carefully avoids all technical language, and in words of
common use describes each Species under its respective Genus, and
the Characteristics of those Genera. It will also serve as a useful key
to larger and more learned treatises, and it contains at the end a
copious and correct Glossary of Technical Terms in Botany. It is
elegantly got up, and may be strongly recommended as a careful
compilation from larger and more ambitious works of the same class."
— Weekly Times.
" A useful little book for those who wish to begin the study of
cultivation of British Ferns." — Spectator.
LONDON:
ROBEfiT HAEDWICKE, 26, DUKE STEEET, PICCADILLY,
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
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E E. 0 K T I S P T E C E
^fairccLse/ Wwdow arrangeil' for Aquavivaruan ajifbiemery
THE
AQUAVIVARIUM,
FRESH AND MARINE;
BEING
AN ACCOUXT OF THE PEES'CIPLES AND OBJECTS DIVOLYED Dv THE
DOMESTIC CULTUKE OF WATER PLANTS AND ANDTALS.
BY
E. LANKESTEE, M.D.
"Omnes tanquam ad Tivaria currunt," — Jxtteital.
5L5Iitfj numrrous Jillustrations.
LONDON:
ROBERT HARDT7ICKE, 26, DUKE ST. PICCADILLY;
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
PREFACE.
Having taken considerable interest iu the
domestic culture of plants and animals in water,
and wi'itten the article " Aquavivarium " for the
English Cyclopsedia, I was induced, at the request
of the Publisher, to put together the following
remarks. I have done so in the hope that they
will in some manner contribute to make the pre-
vailing taste for establishing domestic Aquavivaria
subservient to the teaching of Natural History,
and the study of God's Works.
R L.
8, Savile Eow,
September 26th, 1856.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plate I.— FRONTISPIECE.
Staircase Window arranged as an Aquavivarium and
Fernery.
Plate II.
Ornamental Wire-stand, combining Aquavivarium and
Flower-stand.
Plate III.— TANKS, &c.
Fig. 1. Oblong Tank.
2. Deep Jar.
3. Propagating-Glass reversed, and put on Stand.
4. Octagonal Tank on Stand.
Plate IV.— PLANTS.
Fig, 1 . Water Crowfoot.
2. Spiked Water Millfoil.
3. Vallarsia.
4. Water Speedwell.
5. Homwort,
6. "Valesneria.
7. Anacharis Alsinastrum.
8. Frogbit.
9. Water Soldier.
10. Fennel-leaved Pondweed.
11. Common Stone wort.
12. Marestail.
13. Water Violet.
WOODCUTS.
PAGE.
1. Tadpole 39
2. Common Smooth Newt (Male) . .
39
3. Common Smooth Newt (Female)
.. 39
4. Common Water Newt
40
5, Stickleback
.. 44
6. Minnow
46
7. Loach . .
.. 47
8. Gudgeon . .
47
9. Water Spider . .
.. 49
10. Hydrophilus piceus
51
11-12. Dyticus mai'ginalis (Male and Female
) •
.. 52
13. Water Scorpion . .
53
14-15. Colymbetes..
.. .54
16-17. Water Boatmen
54
18. Caddice-Worm
.. 54
19. Coil-Shell
55
20. Marsh Mud-Shell
.. 55
21. Lake Mud-Shell
56
22. Common Marsh Shell
.. 56
23. Pearl Mussel
57
24. Grey Mullet
.. 64
25. Ballan Wrasse
64
26. Hermit Crab
.. 65
27. Serpula contortuphcata . .
65
28. Periwinkle
.. 66
29. Ascidian Moliusk . .
66
30. Common Cross-Fish, or Five-fingers
.. 67
31. Gibbous Railet
68
32. Anthea cereus . .
.. 69
33. Actinia coriacea . .
69
34. Actinia Mesembryanthemum
.. 70
ERRATUM.
Page 14, Hne 7, for "Plate IV.," reacf "Plate III."
THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
CHAPTER I.
FIEST PEIXCIPLES.
Although it is not necessaiy to the practice of
human arts that men should be acquainted with
the scientific laws involved in the processes they
perform, yet it is admitted on all hands, that an
intelligent workman is better than an ignorant one ;
and that a man who knows the nature of the mate-
rials on which he has to work, will perform his
labour more successfully than one who does not. It
is on this account we think it necessary to introduce
our little book on the Aqua vivarium, by laying down
the principles on which it is constructed and main-
tained. ISTor let any one suppose that mastering
these is a needless waste of time. We promise the
student that it will afford him instruction, illustrate
great laws, and save him much trouble, anxiety,
and expense in the management of his Aqua-
vivarium.
A vessel of water containing plants and animals
must be looked upon as a little world ; it may, in
fact, be so constructed as to have no communication
with the great world in which it exists, and of
which it forms a part, and yet all its inhabitants
live and prosper. In order that this result may
15
2 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
be secured, such an arrangement of plants and
animals must be made in the vessel of water as we
find made upon the surface of the earth. There
must be such a relation between them that the one
may supply the other with what it wants. If we
take a jar of spring or river water, and put into it
some gold fish, they die in the course of a few days,
unless the water is changed ; but if we put them
into cold boiled water they die in a few minutes,
and no amount of fresh boiled water will keep them
alive. If, now, we put in some plants which natu-
rally grow in the water, we shall find that our
fishes will live in it without a change of the water.
These, then, are the problems we have to solve : —
What caused the death of the fishes in the spring
and boiled water *? and. Why do they live in the
water with plants ? Having explained these phe-
nomena, we shall see how they bear on the con-
struction of our Aquavivarium.
The fish, although it lives in water, has as much
need of fresh air as animals that live and breathe
in the atmosphere. If we put a bird, or a mouse,
under a glass jar, it dies in the course of a few
minutes : and there are two causes for its death j—
first, it needs a fresh supply of oxygen to aerate its
blood, which is not supplied in the closed glass jar ;
second, it is necessary that the carbonic acid gas,
— which is generated in its system, and which acts
upon it as a poison, — should be got rid of, which
cannot be efiected in the closed glass jar. Thus the
animal dies because two necessary processes of its
life are not carried on.
The fish, it is true, has not lungs into which it
takes air, but it has gills, which are adapted for
absorbing air from the water in which it lives.
All water, then, which is to support the life of
animals breathing by means of gills, must contain
FIRST PRINCIPLES. > 6
oxygen gas. All water naturally contains this gas ;
it descends from the atmosphere in the form of
rain containing it, and in passing through the earth,
and bubbling up in springs, or rolling down to the
sea in rivers and forming the great ocean itself, it
never loses its oxygen gas but as it is withdrawn
from it by the aquatic animals tliat live in it. It
is thus that well-water and river-water — even that
of the dirty Thames — contains enough oxygen to
support the life of fishes for some days. But the
time comes when the fish wt.11 have consumed
nearly all the oxygen, and then they begin to die ;
they are then like the animals in the closed glass
jar ; for although there may be plenty of oxygen in
the air above the water, they cannot breatlie this
by- means of their gills, and they die for want of
oxygen. They also convert the oxygen into car-
bonic acid gas, which accumulating in the water
becomes a source of poisoning to them as to the
animals in the closed glass jar ; the fish then die of
sufibcation, and are as much drowned in the water
as a man would be.
It is on this account, then, that if we put fish
into water which has been boiled, they die imme-
diately, because the boiling expels the oxygen gas :
no amount, therefore, of cold boiled water will
keep fish alive.
But now we find, that by putting growing plants
into the water, our fish will not only not die in the
course of a few hours, but that if we manage our
plants skilfuUy, they will live on for any length of
time without any change of the water at all. Let
ns inquii'e how this is. If we take a water-plant
and place it in a jar, and expose it for a few hours
to the light of the sun, we frequently find stream-
ing up from its leaves a succession of little bubbles
of air : if we catch these bubbles, — and this can
B 2
4 THE AQUAVIVAKIUM.
easily be done in a tube inverted over water, — and
test them, we shall find they consist of pure
oxygen gas. The leaves of all growing plants are
constantly engaged in giving off oxygen gas ; here,
then, is the source, not only of oxygen to the
atmosphere, replacing what animals take away in
breathing, but also to the water in which plants
live. We now begin to see why it is that fish
will live in water where plants grow, and die
where they are not. But this is not the whole
of the functions performed by plants ; in the atmo-
sphere they would not save animal life from destruc-
tion if they only restored the oxygen. There is the
carbonic acid. This gas, so destructive of animal
life, is constantly being produced by animals. It is
the great distinguishing feature between animals
and plants, that animals take up oxygen and throw
out carbonic acid j the animals would therefore be
poisoned by their own secretion, but for the fact,
that what is the poison of the animal kingdom is
the food of plants. They live on carbonic acid ;
they abstract it from the air and the soil, they
absorb it from the water. It is in this way that
plants purify the water. The carbonic acid is
composed of carbon and of oxygen, and plants
have the power of separating and using the carbon
for forming the tissues of which they are composed,
and letting go the oxygen gas.
It is thus that we find that our jar of water with
plants and animals is truly a microcosm, — a minia-
ture world, in which all the gi'eat changes go on
which are necessary to the life of man, and the
maintenance of animals and plants on the surface
of the earth.
But these changes, although the most essential,
are not all that go on in plants and animals, and
constitute a mutual relation between them. Thus,
FIRST PRINCIPLES. O
animals require the substance called nitrogen to
form the flesh of their bodies ; and this they obtain
either directly from plants, or fi'om other animals
-which have fed on plants. Plants obtain the nitro-
gen which they possess from animals, or animal
substances in a state of putrefaction. The nitrogen,
when it is given off from the animal body, unites
■with another gas, hydrogen, and the two form a
third gas, called ammonia, and which is well known
on account of its pungent odour ; it forms the basis
of smelling-salts, and the spirit of sal volatile. In
this way plants are supplied with another kind of
food from the animal kingdom, and the animals in
turn derive their food from the vegetable kincrdom.
Such is the absolute dependence of these two gi'eat
kingdoms one upon the other. The interchange of
the four elements, — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and
nitrogen, — in the vegetable and animal body con-
stitutes the principal phenomena of life. There is
no existence for plants or animals but as these foiu'
elements re-act upon each other ; at the same time
other substances exert a remarkable influence on
the life of both plants and animals : thus we find
fish living in one pond and not in another, plants
flomishing in one river dying directly they are
transported to another. The most remai'kable
instance of this is the peculiarity of the forms of
plants and animals living in the sea as contrasted
with those living in fresh water. This does not
depend upon any of the general conditions to which
we have alluded, but simply on the substance con-
tained in the water ; the sea-water contains com-
mon salt, with a few other saline matters ; and it is
mainly the common salt that the varied forms of
animal and vegetable life which live in the sea
require in order to thrive and grow. That this is
a fact, and not an hypothesis, is proved by the arti-
6 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
ficial marine Aquavivarimii. In this arrangement
for cultivating plants and animals, fresh water is
converted into sea-water by simply adding the
common salt and other substances. Marine plants
and animals introduced into this liquid live as well
as in their native element. It is in this way that
we are able to cultivate in our drawing-rooms, not
only the living animals of rivers, and lakes, and
])onds, but those of the great ocean itself.
Between sea-plants and animals and fi'esh-water
plants and animals there are many gradations ;
some forms requiring bi*ackish water, — some re-
quiring this mineral ingredient and others that ;
and a little study of the composition of water in
which plants and animals are found will enable
persons to succeed in the culture of even greater
varieties than have hitherto been attempted.
In the above facts we have an illustration of the
principles which are necessary to secure life, but
nevertheless we cannot prevent death. It is one
of the characters of organic life, that its forms
should perish, and ample provision is made in the
structure of the plant and animal for the main-
tenance of the species. Both animals and plants
die, and the elements of which they were composed
are ultimately reduced to a state in which they
may again become the food of plants. But before
this takes place, a process of putrefaction sets in,
which has a power of spreading from the dead to
the dying and from the dying to the healthy, so
that putrefaction is a process to be avoided as
much as possible. In order to prevent this in the
great field of the world, certain animals are formed
who prefer dead to living prey, whose digestive
powers enable them to convert putrefying tissue
into the substance of their own bodies. Such
animals are the vultures and carrion crows
FIEST PRI>-CIPLES. 7
amorigst, birds ; the crocodiles amongst reptiles ;
the sturgeons amongst fish ; the beetles amongst
insects ; and the water-snails amongst the MoUusca :
these are the scavengers of nature, and if man
imitated nature more closely, we should find a
larger number of scavengers in all our great towns
than we do at present.
If we would, then, avoid mortality from putre-
fying substances which spread cholera and fevers
amongst our water pets, vv'e must employ some sca-
vengers. These are best selected from the various
forms of Mollusca. It is, however, necessary in our
selection to remember that many of our molluscous
scavengers, like human ones, have a taste for some-
thing better than garbage, and unless due discrimi-
nation is used, our living plants as well as our dead
ones will fall a prey.
Another point to be attended to in the manage-
ment of an Aquavivarium is the regulation of
temperature. "With regard to the endurance of
change of temperature, man is altogether the most
remarkable animal — he endures and flourishes
wherever other animals are found ; but the great
mass of the lower animals are made for special
temperatures. Those which dwell in polar regions
die on going north and south. The limits of the
extension of many animals are found within the
tropics. Species in the jS'orth Sea cannot, for the
heat, pass to the south, and vice versa. In like
manner, the denizens of our water vivaries are
limited to certain temperatures, above or below
which they v.ill not exist. Some will bear lower
and some higher temperatures better than others; a
frost that will nip off all the Actince in a sea-tank
will produce no eflect upon gold fish in a fresh-
water tank. The same with plants ; a frost that
will fatally blight Valisneria spiralis, will leave
8 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
Anacliaris alsinastrum more vigorous than ever.
The habits of our plants and animals in this respect
must be studied. As a rule, it is safer never to let
the temperature fall below 40° or to rise higher
than Q5° or 70°. Hence the importance of selecting
proper situations for permanent tanks. If they
are exposed to the north, they must be looked
after in the winter, lest they get too cold j and if
to the south, in summer, lest they get too hot.
The world is supplied with light from the same
source as heat ; at the same time, it is most im-
portant to distinguish between the action of these
two agents : we can always command heat but not
light. If we grow plants in a dark cellar, we
shall find, although they have plenty of heat, that,
for the want of light, they become pale and die.
Plants exposed to a northern aspect will die, whilst
those in the south will flourish and produce their
flowers and fruit : this arises from the action of
light. Not only do our large water-plants grow best
in the light, but a thousand minute forms of plants
start into existence when the Aqua vivarium is ex-
posed to the light of the sun. This wonderful agency
of light seems to arise from its chemical action on
the material of which the plant is composed : this
action is the same as that which takes place when
a sun-picture is produced. Just in proportion to
the light of the sun is the change produced on the
photographic paper ; and just in proportion to the
light of the sun is the growth of vegetable matter
in the Aquavivarium. We have thus a powerful
means in our hands of increasing or decreasing the
growth of the plants which we are cultivating.
CHAPTER II.
HISTOEY OF THE AQUAVIVARIOI.
If there has been no open controversy, there
has been a good deal of latent feeling on the sub-
ject of the invention of collections of plants and
animals in water. The subject has not appeared
to me to be one of so great interest as to demand
original research, and I shall therefore speak of the
history as far as my own memory serves me. To
whomsoever credit may be given for perfecting these
arrangements, I cannot for a moment doubt that
the original idea was taken from the success attend-
ing the cultivation of plants in closed glass cases,
on the plan recommended by Mr. Ward. It was
his genius that saw, in the accidental sprouting of
a fern in a glass bottle, the means of maintaining
ifresh vegetation in the midst of the smoke and dirt
of London. ^Yhen he had succeeded in fitting up
his first fernery in Wellclose Square, he was not
long in discovering, that in the little pools which he
so ingeniously constructed there, gold fishes and
other creatui-es would live in the water, provided
plants were present, as animals lived in the air of
his fernery. The cultiu-e of ferns in cases, by
Mr. Ward's friends, led naturally to the culture of
water-plants in the same cases, and air-breatliing
and water-breathing animals were introduced, to
increase the interest of the scene. As early as
June, 1849, Mr. Ward stated, at a meeting of the
British Association at Oxford, that he had suc-
ceeded, not only in growing sea-weeds in sea-water,
but in sea-water artificially made. This must cer-
tainly be regarded as the first step towards realizing
10 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
the marine Aquavivarium. From this time ex-
periments of* various kinds were tried, for the
purpose of enabling persons away from the sea-
side to keep marine animals. A lady in London
frequently surprised the scientific societies by exhi-
biting beautiful living specimens of rare marine
animals ; and these she succeeded in keeping for
many months by aerating the sea- water by pouring-
it from one vessel to another.
Previous to the year 1850, many experiments
had been made in London of keeping sticklebacks,
gold fish, and other animals, in jars containing
Valisneria. I find, from some of my own notes,
that I had sticklebacks in a jar containing Valis-
neria and Water Starwort, in 1849. In March,
1850, Mr. Kobert "Warington read a paper before
the Chemical Society, which was afterwards pub-
lished in the journal of that Society, in which he
described the general conditions necessary to the
growth of plants and animals in jars of water, and
gave an account of his own arrangements for that
purpose.
The practicability of establishing arrangements
of this kind had been often discussed in the council
of the Zoological Society, and in 1852 they deter-
mined to erect, under the skilful giiidance of
Mr. Mitchell, a house in their gardens in Regent's
Park, large enough to hold several water-tanks for
marine and fresh- water animals. In the spring of
1853 this house was opened, and at once gave an
immense impetus to the establishment of water-
vivaries. Most of the marine creatures contained
in it were obtained by Mr. Gosse, who had pre-
viously cultivated marine animals with plants in
sea-water. An account of his experiments is given
in his very interesting " Rambles of a Naturalist
on the Devonshii-e Coast." In 1854 Mr. Gosse
HISTORY OF. 11
published a beautiful volume, entitled " The Aqua-
rium," in which he describes minutely the structure
and habits of a larsje number of marine animals
adapted for domestication in vessels of sea-water.
After the success of his experiments with fresh-
water plants and animals, Mr. Wariiigton com-
menced operating upon madne plants and animals
with sea-water. In this he has been more suc-
cessful than any other operator, probably arising
from the care with which he constructed his tanks.
An account of his experiments is given in the
"Annals of Natural History" for November, 1853.
Many important hints and suggestions will be found
in Mr. Warington's other papers in the " Annals
of Natural History."
Since the opening of the house in the Zoological
Gardens, numerous pa})€i*s and books on the subject
of the Aquavivarium have appeared. Mr. Gosse
has written a little book, containinor dii'ections
for managing the marine aquarium. Mr. Shirley
Hibberd has devoted considerable snace, in his
work on " Kustic Adornments for Homes of Tast€,"
to the management of the Water vivaries. Dr.
Badham also, who has made Felixstow a classical
spot for the marine naturalist, has contributed his
experience on the subject. We ought also to
mention Mr. William Thompson, of Weymouth,
who has been a collector of specimens for domes-
tication from the first, and Mr. W. Alford Lloyd,
of London, who, by his enterprise in securing
specimens for his beautiful collections, has done
much to extend our knowledge of how to manasre
the Aquavivarium, as well as to create a taste for
its adoption.
Having said thus much with regard to its his-
tory, I must say a word or two on the name.
" What's in a name 1 " is a question often asked to
12 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
defend the use of inappropriate, absurd, and even
wrong names. If you are going to give a thing a
new name, then, indeed, it does not much signify
what name you give it. A high authority. Sir
John Herschell, says, that under these circum-
stances, a " nonsense name " is best. Perhaps it
is. But it is one of the glories of our English
language that we can make use of words from other
languages without corrupting our own ; and we
have a habit of naming new things significantly —
let Panopticon, Perambulator, and Polytechnic,
stand as examples.
All parties are agreed that to use old names in a
new sense is bad. The collections of water-plants
and animals that we have been speaking of have
been called a " Vivarium " and an " Aquarium."
They are both Latin words, used by Koman folks
in times of old. By a " Vivarium " they meant a
collection of any living animals : a wild-beast
show, a hutch of rabbits, or a pond with fish, was
equally a Vivarium. To call our water collections
■sivaria, then, is correct enough, but not distinctive.
We might as well call it a show ; and if we must
Saxonize the word we want, it would be a water-
beast-plant-show. It is clear, however, that we
cannot use so uncouth a word as this, although our
German friends might.
The objections to Vivarium have led to the use
of Aquarium ; but here we have another Latin word
with already a definite meaning. A Roman Aqua-
rium was a reservoir for water, whether used for
drinking, bathing, or other purposes. It may be
applied to a jug or a pond : it expresses but one-
half of our show. We have not only water but
living creatures. When it became necessary to
write the article Aquarium in the " English Cyclo-
paedia," these objections occurred to the word, and
HOW TO FORM. 13
in a conversation with Mr. Charles Knight, he
suggested, w-hat appeared to me to be a very happy
word — Aquavivarium — as expressing both the
characters of our show. It was accordingly
adopted, and published in that work in June,
1853. Mr. Gosse says, " The objection to this
is its awkward length and uncouthness, which
render it unsuitable for a popular exhibition or
domestic amenity." I cannot think that the word
is either awkward from its length, or uncouth.
That it is un suited for a popular exhibition can
hardly be urged, when such words as Polytechnic,
Zoological, Pantechnicon, Amphitheatre, and others,
are popularly used. AVith regard to its inter-
ference with domestic amenity, I must leave to
the decision of those wdio use it in their family
circles. Several of my friends employ the w'ord,
and I have not heard of any " domestic amenity "
having been destroyed. For those who prefer the
analogies of our own language, there is the Saxon-
Latin word, AYater-vivary, or the more purely
Saxon, Water-show.
CHAPTER III.
HOW TO FORM AN AQUAVIVARIUM.
Any vessel that will hold water can be converted
into an Aquavivarium j a hand-basin, a foot-bath,
a finger-dish, a soup-plate, or a pickle-bottle, may
be made the subjects of a first experiment. It will
soon be found, however, that vessels which are not
transparent, and which you have to look into, espe-
cially if they are deep, are not so convenient and
interesting as those made of glass. For observa-
14 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
tion, the clearer and more transparent the glass is,
the better. Thus, for small collections, white glass
bottles with wide mouths, or jars such as are used
by confectioners and druggists, will be found useful.
Bottles are convenient for transj)orting things, but
very inconvenient when objects need to be removed
from them. Deep jars, such as Fig. 2, Plate EV., liU
are well adapted for growing such plants as
Valisneria and Anacharis, but become troublesome
when you require to fish for any of the creatures
they contain. Glass jars can be had of all sizes,
and the best form is undoubtedly one in which the
top and bottom are of equal size, and the depth
equal to the breadth ; they can be had, however, of
various shapes, and some persons prefer the form
of the vase. All such vessels are, however, expen-
sive compared with the hand-glasses, or propa-
gating-glasses, which are made in large quantities
for the use of the gardener ; they have a slight
green tinge, but not enough to interfere with a
clear view of the objects contained in them ', they
are made of all sizes, and have a knob at the
top for the convenience of moving them. In order
to use these for the Aquavivarium, they must be
inverted, and various devices may be had recourse
to for the purpose of sustaining them. For tempo-
rary purposes, they may be inverted over a flower-
pot, or a pickle-jar, or a saucer containing sand ;
more elegant stands are turned from wood (Fig. 3,
Plate IV.). These may then be placed on a pillar
of marble, stone, or scagliola-work ; or these glasses
may be arranged in wire stands, and surrounded
with plants (Plate II.). One of these vessels is seen
under a rough stone arch, and inclosed in a Ward's
case, against a window, as represented in the Fron-
tispiece. Many other arrangements may be made
with them, according to the taste of the cultivator.
HOW TO FORil. 15
Where a fall of -svater can be procured, as from a
cistern at the top of the house, a pipe may be
introduced at the bottom, and a fountain formed.
Secured in a glass case from the evil effects of smoke
and dryness, a most charming vegetation with
a variety of aquatic plants and animals may be
secured in the midst of the poisonous atmosphere
of our cities and manufacturing towns.
It must be confessed, however, that these glass
vessels have their defects. The rays of light, in
passing through their rounded sides, distort the
objects contained in them, and often give the
observer very indistinct notions of their form and
size. They are liable, also, to break, not only with
a slight blow, but even with a noise at a distance :
this is a very unhappy occurrence ; no one can con-
template without sorrow the treasures of weeks
and months of anxiety all scattered in an instant,
and perhaps the drawing-room table, with its books
and ornaments, saturated with water. Such acci-
dents lead us to think of tanks. The vessels to
which this term has been applied are made of sheet
glass ; they can be made of any size, and are not
only less liable to break, but the objects are seen
better through them. The jars admit too much
light for some things, but in the tank one or more
sides may be made of opac^ue materials, as slate.
It is hardly necessary, perhaps, to describe how
these tanks can be made ; they are now articles of
extensive manufacture, and a selection is kept for
choice in almost every establishment where glass is
sold.
It will be found in most cases, in London, neces-
sary to have covers both for the jars and tanks ;
their principal object is to keep out the soot^
which is a fertile source of inconvenience in all
our large towns, and leads to the very injurious
16 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
practice of keeping the windows of our dwellings
closed winter and summer. Fortunately, no evil
arises from sealing up our Aquavivarium, and we
may cover it in with what material we please.
Mr. Warington originally strained a piece of muslin
over his jar to keep out the " blacks : " we have
always used a piece of glass. The glass has this
advantage, that whilst it stops the access of the
blacks, it prevents evaporation, and allows also the
top of the Aquavivarium to be used for placing
objects which serve for ornament and adornment.
Covers made of opaque objects are not desirable, as
they prevent the access of light, and thus interfere
with the growth of the plants and obscure the
view of the objects. Arrangements are often made
for allowing the access of air between the cover and
the vessel, but this does not appear to be necessary,
although there can be little doubt that injury would
occur were the vessels hermetically sealed.
The form of the tank will be found very conve-
nient for making other arrangements. We have
seen how an Aquavivarium may be introduced
into a Ward's case ; and by enlarging a tank, and
covering it over close, we may convert an Aqua-
vivarium into a Ward's case. If rocks are intro-
duced into the middle, our Aquavivarium may
be converted into a miniature lake with an island
in it. On the rock may be grown ferns of various
kinds, or other plants which love the rocks that
are dashed by the spray of water. Such an Aqua-
vivarium should be made of large size ; and where
a running stream can be introduced through it,
such large fish as pike, trout, and tench may be
kept.
It will be observed from the last remark, that
there are limits within which plants and animals
will grow and live in our tanks ; the weight of
HOW TO FOEil. 17
aniaial and vegetable life to the weight of water
has not yet been determined, but a small gold fish
and two small plants have been recommended for
a gallon of water. If we suppose the fish to weigh
half an ounce, and the plants the same, this would
give us about one proportion of organic matter to
one hundred and sixty of water. This may seem
a small proportion ; but certainly the greatest part
of the evil that I have seen occur to the Aqua-
vivarium has resulted from the overcrowding of
the plants and animals ; they die as people die in
a city, not from treading on each other's heels, but
that they consume the air faster than it can be
manufactured and conveyed to them. It is on this
account that all attempts at keeping large fish fail.
According to our calculations, a pike weighing a
pound would require a tank containing thirty-two
gallons of water, and a forest of weeds to decar-
bonize and oxygenate the water. This, then, is the
reason why, when large fishes are kept in a small
quantity of water, it is necessary that it should be
constantly renewed.
The vessel having been determined on, whether
it be a hand-basin or a tank of the largest size, the
next thing to be done is to put some soil at the
bottom. This is better done before you add the
water ; and therefore a few words about the soil.
It should be recollected, to begin with, that to
water-plants soil is not a matter of so much im-,
portance as to land-plants : with land-plants soil
is everything ; but what soil is to land-plants water
is to water-plants. Soil is not, however, a matter
of utter indifference ; although many water-plants
have no roots by which to anchor to the earth,
a large number of them have certain peculia-
rities of structure which fit thera for growing
better on one kind of bottom than another ; thus
18 THE AQUAVIVARIUJI.
the Grass-wrack (Zoster a marina) will not grow
unless there is mud at the bottom of the vessel.
The beautiful Aponogeton, from the Cape, will not
grow in a shallow soil. Many of our common ditch
plants, whose leaves and flowers float upon or grow
above the water, as the Water Plantain {Alisina
Plantago), the Water Violet (Hottonia 2^cilustris),
the white and yellow Water Lilies {Nymijhctia alba
and Nuj^har lutewni), with many others, require a
considerable depth of soil in order to retain them
in their positions ; in fact, when plants have a large
surface of leaves and flowers, and live in running
streams, it is necessary that they should have rope-
like roots and deep mooring-grounds. It is yet a
question, whether such plants take up much nou-
rishment by their roots, and what it is ; at any
rate it is a well-known fact, that many water-
plants will continue to grow and increase without
their roots being immersed in the soil at all : such
plants are the New Water-weed (Anacharis Alsi-
nadrum), the Yalisneria ( Valisneria spiralis), the
Water Crowfoot {Ranunculus aquafilis), the Star-
worts (Gallitriche), the species of Chara, and many
others. Many of the Confervse, the species of Duck-
weed (Lemna), the Water Chestnut {Tra]?a natans),
Pontederia crassipes, and others, although they
have roots, are seldom or never found with them in
the soil.
Under these circumstances, it will be found that
the nature of the soil is not a matter of much
importance to the plant, and therefore the conve-
nience and beauty of the Aquavivarium may be
consulted. For cleanliness, and all the jDurposes of
the plants mostly cultivated, a soil compo.sed of
well-washed river sand will be found to answer
best : this may be put at the bottom of the jar,
mixed with a few small pebbles, to the depth of
HOAV TO FOEiT. 19
one, two, three, or more inches, according to its
size. The plants which are to be cultivated may
then be placed in it, with a jDebble or shell here
and there to keep them down, as in adding the
water they may be washed away. After this is
done, the surface may be then covered, according
to taste, with pebbles, shells, and pieces of rock.
Some regard, however, should be paid to the natu-
ralness of the scene ; large marine shells and lumps
of coral are unnatural inhabitants of miniature
fresh-water lakes, — they are quite natural in the
marine Aquavivarium, but here care should be
taken not to overload the bottom of the tank or
jar: large masses of such objects are unnatural and
inelegant at the best ; arches, and other artificial
arrangements, are also to be objected to on the
same ground, — they occupy space, and what is
wanted to be shown are the plants and animals,
and not a miniature city overwhelmed with water,
and inhabited by fish and snails.
The objection to all forms of mud and clay,
where they can be dispensed with, is the thickening
of the water whenever they are disturbed ; this
disturbance is sometimes necessary in the removal
or addition of plants, but it more frequently arises
from the fish, vv'hich are in the habit of taking up
the loose soil and ejecting it again from their
mouths. When sand is employed, it speedily falls
to the bottom ; but where chalk or clay is present,
it is a long time before it is deposited.
The next thing to be added to our Aquavivarium
is water. A little water may be added to the sand
before the plants that require it are set : when this
is done, the rest of the water may be poured into
the vessel. But this requires caution ; if the water
is emptied from a spouted mug or can, the chances
are, it will wash up the soil and all the plants
c 2
20 THE AQUAVIVAKIUM.
arranged in it ; care should be taken to introduce
it at the side through a funnel, or what is better,
use a water-pot with the rose on. The water is thus
gently added, and, what is of advantage, it gets
aerated in passing through the atmosphere ; and
shoidd you be going to add your animals directly,
it will be of service to them. But you should wait
a few days before the animals are put in, as by this
means the water gets charged with oxygen from
the plants.
Now comes the kind of water. Almost any
w^ater may be employed for this purpose which is
used for drinking. Perhaps of all kinds of water
the Thames, as supplied to the houses of London, is
the best, as, from containing a dash of sewage
without enough to destroy the animals, it affords
manure to the plants. Rain-water answers very
well, and there is no objection to spring or pump
waters, as long as their saline constituents do not
make them mineral water. Chalybeate springs are
very injurious to vegetation.
In addition to the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and
nitrogen, which plants obtain from carbonic acid,
ammonia, and water, they require certain saline
constituents. These they get from the water ; so
that, provided they are not in so large quantities as
to destroy life, water is the better for containing
some of them. It is perhaps questionable if either
plants or animals would live and grow in perfectly
pure water ; some plants flourish in proportion to
the quantities of these saline matters the water
contains ; thus the Charas grow best where there
are considerable quantities of carbonate of lime ;
the Grass-wrack {Zostera onarina) and a host of
other plants grow only in salt-water. Some Con-
ferv?e grow where the water gives out sulphuretted
hydrogen.' These, however, are exceptions, and
HOW TO FORM. 21
most of the plants recommended for the Aqiia-
vivariiim will live in ordinarj water.
The water, when the Aquavivariiim is well
managed, will generally remain clear and bright,
and all that will be requii-ed will be the addition
of fresh water as evaporation diminishes the ori-
ginal stock. Accidents, however, continually hap-
pen ; the possessor of an Aquavivarium failing to
discover the first portentous signs of a comino-
epidemic amongst his plants and animals, will
find them suddenly overwhelmed ; the water will
become turbid, and smell ; myiiads of animalcules
and locomotive plants will be developed ; and the
death of all or most of the higher organisms result.
Patience will even restore this state of things, for
the water is there, and the water itself never
decomposes ; it may become ice, or vapour, but it
never changes its elementaiy constitution. It is
best, however, under these circumstances, to change
your water, save what you can from the wreck,
clean off the Confervas from the side of your tank
and jar with some sand or pumicestone, and be»in
afresh.
This kind of visitation may be prevented in the
same way that cholera and fever are prevented in
our towns. In the first place look to your refuse ;
if your scavengers are not doing their duty, dis-
charge them and get better. Remove the dead, —
always have recourse to extramural interment ;
this applies to dead leaves as well as dead bodies,
— these should be all removed. If you feed vour
animals, take care that the superabundance is' not
left to rot, as it is sometimes in our markets, to the
injury of those who do not want it or cannot get it.
If you recollect that decomposing animal and vege-
table matter is a source of unmitigated evil every-
where, you will keep a sharp eye on your Aqua-
22 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
vivarium, and act upon the hint in the house and
town in which you live.
In order to manage the Aquavivarium com-
fortably, a few simple instruments should be kept
at hand. A little hand-net, which you may pur-
chase for sixpence, or make yourself for a penny,
will be very convenient ; it need not be bigger
than a tablespoon, and may be made of brass or
iron wire covered with muslin j it is convenient
for catching the various creatures, and removing
them from one vessel to another : it is also of use
in removing dead bodies. Some things, however,
cannot be caught in this way, and a pair of long
wooden forceps will be found of great service. For
removing small creatures a glass tube will be found
convenient. Tubes of various sizes may be kept.
The way to use these tubes is to take them up
with the thumb and second finger, placing the
forefinger on the top of the tube. On placing the
tube thus in the water, it will be filled with air j but
on removing the forefinger, the water rushes in to
supply the place of the air, and will carry whatever
small object may be near with the water into the
tube. Tubes of various sizes will be found useful
for different purposes.
A glass siphon, or a tube of gutta percha or India-
rubber, will be found very often convenient. Do
your best, and you will still occasionally find a dead
animal has escaped you, and the water becomes
opalescent, abounds in animalcules, gives off smelling
gases, and must be drawn off from your tank j this
you can do with a siphon.
Another instrument which will be of use is a
pair of bellows. Persons are scarcely ever satisfied
with the small quantity of animal and vegetable
life that serve for a balance ; they overload their
Aquavivaria with animal life. Under these cir-
PLANTS FOR. 23
cumstances it is essential that fresh oxygen should
be supplied, either by fresh water or by passing it
through the water. This last may be done b}'-
means of a pair of bellows with an India-rubber
tube attached to the nozzle. An occasional blow
through the bellows will act as pleasantly on the
animals as a walk in the parks on the infant popu-
lation of London, or a visit to the sea-side. In
the Dublin Zoolosrical Gardens, an arrangement has
been made by which the whole of the Aquavivaria
in that establishment are connected by a tube with a
single pair of bellows. From this long tube, branches
pass off, and open into each tank ; and one puff of
the bellows supplies air to the whole of the tanks.
The passing of the air into the tanks has a very
pretty effect, and visitors are so fond of blowing
the bellows, that Dr. Ball, who described this
arrangement at the last meeting of the British
Association at Cheltenham, stated that the autho-
rities of the Gardens had found it entirely unne-
cessary to employ any of the men in the Gardens
to pump in the air.
CHAPTEE IV.
PLANTS FOK THE AQUAVIVAEIUM.
The plants to be employed for the Aqua-
vivarium must be all aquatic plants, or those which
live with the greater part of their stems and leaves
in the water. Others may be employed to orna-
ment any rock-work out of the water, or to
ornament the sides of the A quavivarium ; but
these, it should be recollected, do not supply
oxygen to the water, or take away its carbonic
acid.
24 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
Many of the great families of plants have repre-
sentatives that live in the water ; so that it must
not be supposed that water-plants belong to a
common family. The fact is, they vary as greatly
in their structure and habits as do the jDlants that
live on the land.
Botanists divide plants into two great classes, —
.Flowering plants and Flowerless plants. The
flowering plants are again divided into Dicotyle-
dons and Monocotyledons, and each of these great
divisions comprehends many forms of plants. We
shall follow this division in speaking of the plants
for the Aquavivarium ; so that persons may get a
little knowledge of Botany whilst attending to their
Aquavivarium. In fact, mere amusement is but
a poor end to propose to ourselves in any human
occupation ; and if people would but exercise their
minds a little, they would find that there are really
few human occupations that will not afford in-
struction.
We shall speak first of the Dicotyledonous, then
of the Monocotyledonous Flowering plants, and
afterwards of the Flowerless plants.
I.— DICOTYLEDONOUS FLOWERING
PLANTS.
Water Crowfoot [Ranunculus aquatilis), Plate
IV., Fig. L This plant belongs to the Crowfoot
family {Eanwicidqcece), the same to which But-
tercups, Anemones, the Clematises, Monkshood,
and Larkspurs, belong. The Water Crowfoot is
an interesting plant, and very common in our
ponds and ditches, putting forth a beautiful
crop of white blossoms in April and May. It
has two sorts of leaves : one set are submerged,
PLANTS FOR. 25
and present thread-like divisions, spreading in
all directions ; another set float on the water,
and have three lobes. In this instance we have
an arrangement to meet the requirements of the
plants : those leaves which are exposed to the
air have the ordinary structure of aerial leaves,
whilst the others are divided according to the
general plan of the leaves of aquatic plants.
There are several other species of aquatic Crow-
foots, but none of them are so common as the
above. Other species of Crowfoots, as Ranun-
cutus Lingua and Ranunculus Flammula, grow
in ditches and lakes, and might doubtless be
cultivated successfully in shallow tanks.
Water Lilies {JS^'ymphceacece). — Two Water-lilies,
the white {Nymj)hma alba) and the yellow
{Nuphar luteum) grow in Great Britain. Either
of these are handsome ornaments in an Aqua-
vivarium, but they require a large vessel and a
good deal of soil in order to attain perfection.
Their leaves are very large, and die down in the
winter, and thus produce much refuse. Where
tanks of large size can be commanded, not only
may these beautiful plants be grown, but their
foreign allies, as the species of Euryale, and even
that queen of the waters, Victoria regia, may be
attempted where there is heat sufficient.
The CoiiMON Water Cress {Nasturtium officinale)
belongs to a family of plants, the Cross-bearers
{CrucifercE), many of whose members grow in the
water. No one would think of growing water-
cresses for breakfast in a drawing-room, although
this might most certainly be done; but the water-
cress may be cultivated for its use in the Aqua-
vivarium. A few seeds buried in the soil at the
beginning of the year soon spring up, and give a
very pretty green appearance to the bottom of
26 THE AQUAVIVARTUM.
the Aquavivarmm ; as they grow up, however,
they need to be weeded out, and at last, as they
are annual, they will need removing.
The Awl-wort {Suhularia aquatica), a little plant
with awl-shaped leaves and flowers which open
under water, has been recommended as a very
pretty addition to the Aquavivarian Flora.
There is a little order of plants, called by Dr.
Liudley Hippurids (Ilaloi^agacece), all the
British species of which grow in water. The
most common of these is
The Spiked Water Milfoil (^Myriophyllum spica-
tuiii), Fig. 2. It has flowers, with stamens and
pistils, which are arranged in whorls. The stem
is slender ; the leaves are also arranged in a
whorl around the stem, and are four in number
in each whorl. There are several other species,
but this is the most common.
Marestail {Hippuris vulgaris) is another species
of plants belonging to this order. It is easily
known by its upright jointed stem, and the leaves
being in whorls of about eight round the stem.
It flourishes best in deep streams, and requires a
good deal of soil in order to prosper.
ViLLARSiA is the name given to a beautiful water-
plant, in compliment to Madame Villars, author
of the " Flora of Dauphine." This plant, of which
there is only one species in Great Britain, belongs
to the Gentian family (Gentianacece). This species
is so like the Water Lily that it is sometimes called
the little Water Lily ; and its Latin name ( Vil~
larsia nymphceoides) gives us the expression of
White Water-Lily-like Villarsia (Fig. 3). The
leaves are roundish, floating on the water j the
flowers are large, and seated on single stalks,
and are of a beautiful yellow colour. It is
found in the Thames, and in some ponds in
PLANTS FOR. 27
tlie neighbourhood of London. It is a beautiful
plant, and worthy the attention of those who
cultivate water-plants.
BucKBEAX {Menyanthes trifoUata) is another plant
belonging to the Gentian family that may be cul-
tivated in the Aquavivarium. Whilst it is a
useful medicine, on account of its bitter qualities,
it has beautiful flowers, covered with soft hairs
and large three-lobed leaves. It grows in marshes
and by the side of streams rather than in them.
The Water Yiolet {Hottonia palustris), Fig. 13,
belongs to the Primrose family (Primulacece). It
has purple and yellow whorled flowers, which
open above the water, whilst the comb-shaped
leaves, attached to a straight stem, are always
below the water. It has a long root, and will not
gTow well without a considerable depth of soil.
Water Speedwell ( Veronica Anagallis) -dud Brook-
lime ( Veronica Beccahunga^, Fig. 4, belong to the
Fig wort family (So'ojyhulariacece), and live in
water. They are both characterized by having
blue flowers. The Water Speedwell has pale blue
flowers and an erect stem ; the Brooklime has
a procumbent stem, and bright blue flowers.
These plants, when in flower, make a pretty
addition to the Aquavivarium.
Most of the plants we have mentioned need to
be rooted to the soil in order to grow well ; we
have now to speak of one which, although it has
dehcate roots, thrives very well wliilst floating in
the water. This is
The Water Starwort (Callitriche verna), and is
the only genus of the family of Water Starworts
{Callitrichacece^ in Great Britain. This pretty
plant, which will be found very useful in the
Aqua-vT.varium, is very common in stagnant and
slowly-running water, all over the country. It
28 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
is easily known by its upper leaves floating on tlie
water, and two or three pairs of them forming
a little green star — hence its name. This plant
forms a pretty object under the microscope, for
its leaves and stem are covered with very minute
rosette-shaped bodies, which seem to supply the
place of hairs in other plants. There are other
species of Water Starwort in England, but they
are much more rare.
The Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersuwi), Fig. 5,
is a floating plant, that \v\\\ live very well in the
Aquavivarium, and be found useful in oxygen-
atinof the water. It is not uncommon in slow
streams and ditches. Its flowers are incon-
spicuous, but it has long, slender, filamentous
leaves, which are arranged in whorls around the
stem, and are forked two or three times. The
whole stem looks very feathery and graceful.
XL— MONOCOTYLEDONOUS FLOWERING
PLANTS.
Valisneria spiralis demands our first notice
amongst the Monocotyledonous plants (Fig. 6).
Its long leaves with straight veins afford a good
examjDle of the nature of the leaves in this class
of plants. In Dicotyledonous plants, the veins
interlace with each other, forming a net-work,
Valisneria is named after Antonio Valisneri, an
Italian physician, who flourished in the begin-
ning of the last century, and wrote many works
on insects and plants. Of all the plants we
have mentioned, Valisneria is best adapted for
growing in the Aquavivarium. It has peren-
nial roots, which do not require any great depth
of soil, and its long green leaves absorb rapidly
the carbonic acid of the water, and in its stead
PLANTS FOR.
29
give out the pure vivifying oxygen. Although
so commonly cultivated in this country, it is a
native of the south of Europe, where it flourishes
in quick-running streams. It is what botanists
call a dioecious plant, that is, its ^ stamens
grow on flowers on one plant, whilst its pistils
grow on flowers on another plant. Pistil-
liferous plants are mostly seen in this country.
The flowers grow on the summit of a long spiral
flower-stalk, which is sometimes several feet in
length. The object of this long flower-stalk is
very curious : the stamen-bearing flowers, when
ripe, break ofi", and float to the top of the water,
and if the pistils had not very long stalks in the
deep rivers in which they grow, the fructifying
pollen of the stamen would never come in con-
tact with them. No sooner has this process
taken place on the surface of the water, than
the long spiral stalk contracts, and the newly-
formed seeds in the pistil are drawn down into
the soil, where they may germinate and produce
new plants. The Valisneria was first cultivated
generally in a domestic manner, in this country,
on account of the cellular tissue of which its
leaves are composed, exhibiting under the
microscope a circulation of their contents. This
movement can only be seen by cutting away
from the surface of the leaf a portion of the
cellular tissue, so as to render the rest more
transparent. The same kind of circulation may
now be seen in a great number of plants.
Valisneria belongs to an order of plants called by
Lindley Hydrocharads {Hydrocharidacece), and
to this family some other plants belong, which
will be found useful in the Aquavivarium.
Anacharis Alsinastrum, the New Water Weed or
Water Thyme, is one of these (Fig. 7). This plant
30 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
has a curious history. Up to the year 1842, it
had never been noticed in Great Britain ; now it
is a common weed in our ponds, ditches, and
I'ivers. The first recorded instance of its being
found, was by the late Dr. George Johnston, of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, in a pond at Dunse Castle,
Berwickshire, in July, 1842. In 1848, he again
found the same plant in the river Whiteadder,
about five miles from the last locality. In the
same year it was discovered in the river Lea,
near Nottingham, and since then has been found
in various new localities. Dr. Johnston sent
some of his specimens to Mr. Babington, at
Cambridge, which, thriving in the Botanic
Gardens, they were turned out into the Cam,
and the plant has become most abundant in that
river. From Kew Gardens it has escaped into
the Thames, and it may be now regarded as one
of our most common and troublesome water-
weeds. This plant grows abundantly in North
America, where it was described by Nuttall
under the name of Udora canadeoisis. The
genus had, however, been previously described
by Bichard under the name of Anacharis. Only
the pistilliferous plants have been seen in this
country. From this and other circumstances, it
has been concluded that this plant must have
been introduced into this country probably with
timber from America. Be this as it may, it is
very useful for our Aquavivarium. It grows
vigorously, looks very pretty, and is a capital
aerator of the water. Its great fault is, that it
grows so very vigorously, that it chokes other
plants. It needs, therefore, keeping down. It
roots in the soil, but will grow whilst floating.
It has drooping stems, which are covered with
small oblong-oval leaves, three or four in a
PLANTS FOR. 31
whorl. The cellular tissue of these leaves, like
those of Valisneria, exhibits a circulation. They
are also lined with a siliceous deposit, which
render them beautiful objects under the micro-
scope with polarized light.
The Frog-bit {Hydrocharis Morsus-Rance), Fig. 8,
is also a British plant, belonging to the family of
Hydrocharads, and which may be made iise of
for the Aquavivarium. It is very commonly
found in ditches and ponds all over England.
It is a floating plant, -svith horizontal stems, from
which it sends down rootlets into the water, and
sends up several long-stalked kidney-shaped
leaves, which lie upon the surface of the water.
It has large white delicate flowers, which blossom
in July and August.
The AVater Soldier {Stratiotes aloides), Fig. 9, is
another Hydrocharad. It is not uncommon in
lakes and ditches in England. It is abimdant on
Wandsworth Common, also in the fens of Xorfolk
and Lincolnshire. Whilst growing in the water,
it look& very like the top of a pine-apple. It
has long sword-shaped leaves, with sharp teeth
on their edges, — hence its name of Water Soldier.
When young, the leaves are green, and look
pretty in the water ; but as they grow old they
become darker and decay. It does not appear
to grow very rapidly ; and although it forms a
curious variety for the Aqua\T.varium, it is not
advisable to be entirely dependent on it for
appearance or the aeration of the water.
The Xaiads (Xaiadacce) are a submerged or float-
ing family of plants, almost any of the species of
which may be cultivated in the Aquavivarium.
The great British genus of this family are the
Pond-weeds {Potamogeton). Upwards of twenty
species of Pond-weeds have been described. They
32 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
are all characterized by having flowers without
stalks seated on spikes, and the parts of the flowers
answering to the number four. Thus they have
four anthers, four styles, four parted fruits, and
so on. They all grow in the water, some being
entirely submerged, whilst others have their
leaves floating, and jiroject their spikes of flowers
into the air. Any of the sjiecies may be obtained
for the Aquavivarium.
The Opposite- leaved Pond-weed {Potamogeton
densus) is a very pretty species ; the leaves are
ovate or lanceolate in shape, without stalks, and
are crowded together around the stems. It is
found in ditches, and is the only species of Pond-
weed that does not possess the little scaly bodies
at the base of the leaves, which botanists call
stipules.
The Fennel-leaved Pond- Weed {Potamogeton pec-
tinatus), Fig. 10, is a pretty grassy-looking plant,
and presents an agreeable change in the foliage
of the Aquavivarium. It is not a very common
plant, but it grows in the neiglibourhood of
London. It is said to grow in the Serpentine,
and I have procured it from the canal in Regent's
Park. Another species is —
The Grassy Pond-weed [Potamogeton gramineus).
It has long linear leaves, and, like the last, forms
a good contrast with the broader-leaved species.
The Curly Pond-weed [Potamogeton crisims) is
one of the most frequent species, occurring every-
where in ditches and ponds. It is at once dis-
tinguished by the waved curly form of its leaves,
and may be procured in most running ditches
and streams.
The Duckweeds [Lemnacece) are a family of plants
not to be neglected for the Aquavivarium.
They are amongst the simplest of flowering
PLANTS FOR. 33
plants, and are worthy of attention on tliat
account. They consist of three or four little
green leaves or fronds, from the under-side of
which they send down roots into the water in
which they float. If watched in the spiin<^ one
of the Httle leaf-like bodies will be found to
contau: two stamens and another a pistil. These
are the only flowers possessed by the little Duck-
^veeds. In the Aquavivarium they will be found
very useful, as atfording a screen from the sun-
light to the animals below. They also harbour
a number of microscopic creatures; and it is
amongst the tiny forests which they form on
the surface of the water, that the m'icroscopist
must hunt for some of his most valued game.
There are four species of Duckweed found in
our ponds.
The Three-lobed DucK^^'EED {Lenma trimdca)
^rith pellucid, oblong, lanceolate fronds, and a
single root at one end.
The Little Duckweed (Leimm minor), vntli com-
pressed, opaque, and nearly rounded fronds
shghtly convex beneath, and single roots.
The Gibbous Duckweed {Leynna gihha) has fronds
ol the same shape as the last, but larger, and
nearly flat above, but gibbous and siDono-v
beneath, with single roots.
The maxy-rooted Dh'CKvrE-ED (^Lemna jyolyrhiza?) is
Wvn from the three last by the abundance of
its roots. Its fronds are not unlike those of the
last species, but are more round. It has not
been observed to flower in Great Britain.
There are many other plants belonging to the
class of Endogens, which may, with great advan-
tage, be introduced into the Aquavivarium ; and
probably many Uke YaHsneria, which are stran-
gers to Great Britain, may be easily cultivated.
3Jj THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
I have grown the Apmiogetoii distachyum, an
aquatic plant from the Cape, which has pretty
sweet-scented flowers, and which it keeps pro-
ducing all the year round. This plant grows in
great perfection in the open air, in the pond at
the Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, and is also
growing in the fresh-water tanks in the Zoolo-
gical Gardens, Hegent's Park, London. The
Pistias, Trapas, and Pontederias, are all foreign
plants, species of which are to be seen in our
hothouses, and some might be tempted to grow
in a domestic Aquavivarium.
III.— ACROGENS, OE FLOWERLESS
PLANTS.
There are two families of this class of plants,
which are entirely aquatic, and from which the
Aquavivarium may with advantage be supplied.
These families are the Charas, or Stoneworts {Cha-
racece), and Sea- weeds (Algce).
The Charace^ are represented in Great Britain
by two genera, Nitella and Chara. All the
species are easily known in the water by con-
sisting of a central branch, which is composed
of elongated cellular tubes, and at the junction
of each tube with the other it gives off a series of
branches, which surround the primary tube in
the form of a whorl. In the axils formed by the
branches with the primary stem, the parts which
represent the stamens and pistils of the flowering
plants are seated. These parts are of two kinds,
and are called " nucules " and " globules." The
nucules are green, and represent the pistil, whilst
the globules are of an orange-colour, and repre-
sent the stamens. The globules contain cells, in
which are contained small moving, worm-like
PLANTS FOR. 35
bodies, and are interesting objects under the
microscope. One of the most remarkable pro-
perties of the Charas is the facility with which
the movements of the fluids in theu* cells may-
be witnessed through the microscope. All that is
necessary in order to observe them is to place a
portion of the plant on a piece of glass or in an
animalcule-cage, and the circulation quickly be-
comes apparent. This phenomenon is best seen in
the species of Nitella, as they need no preparation
of the branch previous to examination. In Char ay
it is first necessary to scrape ofl* a layer of cellular
matter, which is frequently hard and stony, and
which collects on the surface of all their branches.
This is the great distinction between the species
of Chara and Xitella. In Chara the whole plant
is more or less opaque and brittle, and the pri-
mary cells are invested with a layer of cells
which are arranged in a spiral manner along
the primary branches. In Xitella, on the con-
trary, the whole plant is more or less pellucid,
and the primary cell-membrane is not covered
^^dth any secondary investment.
The Flexile Nitella (Nitella flexilis) is the most
common form of Nitella, and is not unfrequent
in pools, ponds, and lakes. It may be known by
the branched character of its stems, and its
smooth, glossy, pellucid appearance.
The Common Stonewort {Chara vulgaris), Fig. 11,
is the most common species of the family. It is
found in ponds, ditches, and slow streams, and
may be known by its yellowish-green hue. It has
a smooth stem, but it may be easily known from
the Nitellas by its opaqueness and brittleness,
and the spirally-striated markings upon the stem.
The other species of Nitella and Chara are not
so common.
D 2
36 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
Alg^. — The AlgcB are called Seaweeds, because the
great mass of them are found in the sea, but
there is a little group of them — sometimes called
Crow-silks {Goyifervacece) — which are found in
fresh water. Some of these are not very orna-
mental in the Aquavivarium, — in fact they are
its weeds, its pests, and will sorely trouble the
amateur. He will not be able to pull them up
a plant at a time, as he does the chickweed and
groundsel in his garden, and they will frequently
tax his ingenuity to get rid of them. They are
most of them cellular plants without branches,
consisting of minute cells which have been laid
end to end for several inches in length. Their
beauties do not come fully out as they float
through the water, but under the microscope
many of them are charming. The Yokethreads
{Zygnceniata) present the most elegant markings
in their cells, whilst the Quiverworts {Oscilla-
toriece) attract attention by their never-ceasing
movements. Those who have a microscope will
do well to keep a vessel especially for these
beautiful Algae, and I promise them a rich
harvest of delight in examining their beautiful
forms and investigating their functions.
Here, then, we must terminate our account of
Plants for the Aquavivarium, not for the want of
matter but the want of space. I only hope that
what I have said above may tempt the reader to
study the Vegetable Kingdom more in detail than
can be done by observing the pets of the Aqua-
vivarium.
CHAPTER Y.
OF THE ANIMALS TO BE KEPT IX THE
FEESH AQUA VIVARIUM.
The water having become clear, and the plants
beginning to grow, we must now consider what
animals we ought to put into our Aquavivarium.
I woidd not recommend persons to be very particu-
lar on this point. Some animals are undoubtedly
prettier and more curious in their habits than others,
but those which can be most easily procured will
always be found interesting. I shall therefore
refer to the more common forms of British
animals, which can be secured for display in the
Water-vivary. "With the same object in view as
when treating of plants, I shall speak of animals
according to theii* natural-history classification.
All animals are divided into those with back-
bones (Vertebrata) and those without these organs
{Invertehrata).
The animals with backbones contain five classes :
— Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Batrachians, and
Fishes. "With the first three we shall have nothing
to do ; for although it is possible to keep seals,
porpoises, and even whales in our menageries, few
of my readers will attempt experiments on so grand
a scale ; nor will they probably try to domesticate
young crocodiles or alligators ; so that we have only
Batrachians and Fishes among the Vertebrate ani-
mals to speak of. The backbone-less animals are
very numerous, and are divided into three great
groups, all of which we shall find represented in
our A quavivarium.
38 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
I.— VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
1. Amphibia.
The Frog, tlie Toad, and the Newt, belong to
the class of animals called Batrachians ; they
are also called Amphibia, because they lead a part
of their lives breathing in water and another part
breathing in air. The frogs and toads, when their
aquatic respiration ceases, come out of the water,
and live on the land ; but the newts, after this
period of their existence is over, still continue
to live in the water. Thus, frogs and toads
can only be made to inhabit the Aquavivarium
during the period that they possess gills, and
breathe in water. In this stage of their growth
they are called tadpoles, and very interesting
fellows will they be found. The tadpoles of newts,
frogs, and toads, are very much alike in the early
stage of their existence. The spawn of these crea-
tures may be obtained from any pond or ditch in
the early spring. It consists of a transparent
gelatinous mass, in which are imbedded a number
of dark spherical masses. These black masses
increase in size, and at last burst forth from
their parent jelly as little creatures, all head and
tail. It is interesting to watch the changes they
undergo. First the gills appear, and offer a beauti-
ful object under the microscope, as the blood comes
through them in the process of aeration ; then the
legs make their appearance, and as they grow, the
gills become less, and the tail shrivels away ; at
last, the young frog or toad is ready to emerge
from its nursery in the water ; if kept after this in
the Aquavivarium, he dies. Not so with the newts ;
ANIMALS FOR.
39
their tails continue (Fig. 1), and although they
lose their gills, they come to the- surface of the
water to breathe.
We have two kinds of Newts, or Efts, in Great
Britain. The Common Smooth Newt, Eft, or Evet
{Lissotriton 2>unctatus), is the most frequent of the
two. There is scarcely a pond in Great Britain
where they may not be found, and they are every-
where regarded by school-boys as legitimate prey.
Fig. 2.
Although frequently thought to be poisonous, they
are perfectly harmless, and may be handled with
impunity. The engravings, Figs. 2 and 3, represent
the male and female of this species. In the spring
Fig. 3.
of the year the male puts on a brilliant dress and
wears a crest upon his back (Fig. 2), which dis-
40 THE AQUAVIVARIOr.
appears later in the season. These creatures are
more intelligent than fishes, and their habits are
proportionately more worthy of study;
The other species is the Common Water ]N"ewt,
or Great Water Newt {Triton cristatus). It is
larger than the last. The male (Fig. 4) is even
Fig. 4.
more splendid during the breeding season than the
preceding sj^ecies. They are not so numerous
as the last, but they are generally to be found in
the same places and under the same circumstances.
Although generally found in water, being air-
breathing animals, they will live out of water,
and may be removed and kejot out of water with-
out injury. They take in the air necessary to their
life at the surface of the water, and for this pur-
pose they come up every few minutes ; and this
process may be easily perceived through the glass
tanks, and gives considerable variety to the living
movements of the various creatures.
2. Fishes.
Fishes are known from the Amphibia and Eep-
tiles by living entirely in the water, and breathing
by means of gills. Fish live in either salt or fresh
water, and very few species are capable of enduring
an existence in both. Fresh-water fish will be prin-
cipally alluded to here. It should, however, be
recollected, that for the Aquavivarium the smaller
ANIMALS FOK. 41
the fishes are, the less trouble will they give. Large
fish invariably require extensive arrangements, and
entail much labour. The smaller and more com-
mon fishes will therefore have our attention.
The Stickleback {Gasterosteus). — I mention
this little fish first because I think he has claims
to the rank of the king of fishes. Whether we
regard his high organization, his courageous nature,
his domestic habits, his varied instincts, his power
of living in all waters at all temperatures, he is
fairly entitled to take the first place amongst fishes,
and rank high in the animal scale. And where is
this wonderful fish to be got ? The nearest pool,
pond, or ditch that has life in it is sure to have
sticklebacks. Take a walk on the nearest road out
of any country town, and the chances are that the
first boy you meet with a blacking-bottle or a
pickle-jar in his hand has got sticklebacks in it.
They are the first game of the youthful sportsman all
over Great Britain. You need not catch them your-
self ; a penny ^vill buy a score of them from any of
these urchins. But should you wish to catch them
for yourself, — always a great pleasure, and an art to
be cultivated, — then a hand-net will take them by
dozens ; but this is a cowardly, wholesale way. If
you wish for " sport " at the same time, you will
angle for them ; not, however, Avith cruel hooks.
The stickleback is much too brave and incautious
a fellow to need a hook. A little red worm at the
end of a piece of twine is all that is necessary to
secure him. Once having seized the worm, he never
lets go, though you drag him out of one element
into another.
When you have secured your stickleback, you
must not inconsiderately place him with other
fishes. I have asserted that he is a royal fish, and
you will soon discover that he will bear no rivals.
42 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
No sooner is he fairly free in your Aquavivarium,
than he commences his reign, not always, I must
confess, of the mildest sovereignty. The chances
are, if you put him with fish of his own size,
you will hnd them all dead in the morning. Sad
spectacles ! — disembowelled by the use of our pet's
spines upon his neighbours' stomachs — their eyes
picked out as delicate morsels for his morning's
meal. This, therefore, must be a warning to you ;
and if you have but one jar, and wish to keep
sticklebacks, you will probably not have an oppor-
tunity of keeping any other fish, of his own size at
least.
But he will repay you for his disposition. He
has all the ways of other fishes and many more
besides. Look into your tank ; see, there is one
larger than the rest : he is clothed in a coat of
mail like a knight of old, and it is resplendent with
purple and gold. See how his eyes glisten, and
with every movement present a new colour. He
is a male fish, the king of your little shoal. He
has important offices to perform. Presently, in
the course of a few days, if you watch him, and are
fortunate, yoii will see this wonderful little fish
engaged in the most useful manner in building
a nest. He first seizes hold of one little bit of
weed, then of another, and carries them all to some
safe corner, till at last his nest is built. Having
done this, he gently allures his mate to their new-
made home. Here she deposits her eggs, and having
done this, resigns the care of them to our hero of
the purple and gold, who watches over them with
an anxiety that no other male in creation but
the male stickleback seems to know. He fans
and freshens the water with his fins, and at last,
when the young are hatched, watches over their
attempts at swimming with the greatest anxiety.
AXIMALS FOR. 43
Nor is this habit confined to the fresh-water stickle-
backs. A lady, writing to me from Aberdeen, and
describing her Aquavivarium, says : — " A fifteen-
spined stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia) con-
structed a nest on a piece of rock, which was covered
with a fine green seaweed, depositing the spawn
first, then covering it with loose seaweed, and lacing
all together with a long thread, composed, apparently,
of some secretion. The fish afterwards, for about
the space of three weeks, watched the nest, never
leaving it at all, save for the purpose of driving
away the other fish when they approached too
near. When a stick was introduced into the
vicinity of the nest, the fish would fly, open-
mouthed, to attack it, and would bite it ^vith great
apparent fury. At the exj)iration of the above-
named time, the young fry made their appearance
by hundreds ; but I am sorry to say they soon dis-
appeared, being devoured by the other fish, and
caught by the tentacles of the sea-anemones. The
mother fish continued her attendance at the nest
as long as any of the young fry were left."
The stickleback is very tenacious of life, and will
live out of water for several hours. I was walking
a few mornings since on the sea-shore where some
fishermen had left the refuse of their nets the night
before ; all the animals were dead except a solitary
stickleback, who still survived, and on being placed
in the sea, scuttled ofi" again as though nothing had
happened. The fresh-water species are often taken
at sea at the mouths of rivers, and Sir Edward
Belcher informs me that he took a specimen whilst
dredging at sea during the last Polar voyage.
There are seven British species of the genus
Gasterosteus, all known by the name of Stickle-
back. This name has been given them from the
sharp spines which, in common with a large section
44 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
of fishes (^Acanthopterygii), they possess on their
backs (Fig. 5). They have also other names, as
Banstickle, Sharplin, Prickleback, Tittleback, &c.
Fig. 5.
The following are the names of the species, which
sufficiently characterize their forms : —
1. The Rough-tailed Stickleback {Gasterosteus
trachurus) (Fig. 5). This is the most common form.
2. The Half-armed Stickleback {G. semiarmatus).
3. The Smooth-tailed Stickleback (G. leiurus).
4. The Short-spined Stickleback (G. hrachy-
centrus).
5. The Four-spined Stickleback {G. spmulosus).
6. The Ten-spined Stickleback (G. jyu^igitius).
7. The Fifteen-spined Stickleback (G. spinachia).
It is rarely, if ever, taken in fresh water.
There are many other sharp-finned (Acantho-
pterygii) fishes found in fresh water, which may
be kept in the Aquavivarium.
The Perch (Perca Jluviatilis), when it is young,
will live very well, and is a very handsome fish.
The Miller's Thumb, River Bullhead, or Tommy
LoGGE {Coitus Gobio), inhabits most of our streams,
and will live a long time in confinement. It is
known by the peculiar flattened form of its head.
To the soft-finned fishes (Malacopterygii) belong
the Roach family (Cyprmiclce). To select from
amongst this large family of truly British fishes
would appear to be almost invidious. They all
live in fresh water. They are all, more or less.
ANIMALS FOR. 45
capable of enduring the life of the Aquavivariiim.
We therefore present first a list of the whole, as
given by Mr. Yarrell, in his beautiful work on
" British Fishes."
The Common Carp {Cypinnus carpio).
The Crucian Carp {C. curassiics).
The Prussian Carp (C. gihelid).
The Gold Carp (C. auratus).
The Barbel (Baj^bus vt'Igaris).
The Gudgeon {Gohio Jluvmtilis).
The Tench (Tinea vulgaris).
The Bream [Ahramis brama).
The White Bream (-4. blicca).
The Pomeranian Bream (-4. Buggenhaggii).
The Ide (Leuciscus idus).
The Dobule (Z. dobula).
The Roach [L. rutilus).
The Dace {L. vulgaris).
The Greening {L. Lancastrensis).
The Chub (Z. cejjJialus).
The Pudd [L. eiyojyhthalmus).
The Azurine (L. ccendeics).
The Bleak [L. alburnus).
The Minnow [L. j^hoxinus).
The Loach (Cobitis barbatula).
The Spined Loach {G. tcenia).
Of these, undoubtedly the handsomest and most
easy of domestication is the Gold Carp {Cyjirinus
auratus). Although so common in Great Britain
at the present day, it is an introduced fish. It
appears to be a native of China, where it was
petted long before it became a favourite in
Europe. Like all domesticated animals, it presents
a great variety of colour and form. Its golden
colour is often a dark brown, whilst again it
becomes so light that it has been called a silver
4.6 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
fisli. They are subject also to great varieties in
their fins. Sometimes the dorsal fins are double,
and the caudal fins are divided into three parts, so
as to give them the appearance of having triple
tails. When this latter circumstance occurs, Mr.
Yarrell has observed that they are deficient of
dorsal fins. In the winter it is well occasionally
to feed all fish, as at that season the plants in the
Aquavivarium do not grow very fast, and there
are few or no animalcules produced. Gold fish
may be fed on bread or biscuit. Many of the other
fishes will prefer a little piece of raw meat or small
worms. The one thing most necessary in feeding
fish is to avoid giving them more food than they
eat. If too inuch is supplied, the animal or vege-
table matter will easily decompose, and set the
contents of the whole jar in a state of fermentation.
Another form of carp, which, although not much
known to the angler, has become better known
since the introduction of the Aquavivarium, is the
Prussian Carp {Cy2yrinus gibelio). This fish is found
in jDonds in the neighbourhood of London ; and on
account of its peculiar habits, and tenacity of life,
is well adapted for the Aquavivarium. Although
not so bright a fish as the golden carp, the back has
a golden metallic lustre, the eye is golden-yellow,
the belly is white, and the fins are of an orange-red
colour. It is sometimes called the Crucian Carp,
but Mr. Yarrell has confined that name to another
species (C. curassius) which has been much less seen
in this country.
The Minnow, Mince, or Pink, Fig. 6 {Leuciscus
Fm. 6.
ANIMALS FOR.
47
phoxhius), is a pretty little sportive fish, which
may be easily obtained at the fishing-tackle-sellers',
as it is used as a bait for pike. It is very active, and
when whisking about in the water with a bright,
sun shining on it, forms a most beautiful object.
It seldom attains a length of more than three
inches. The head and back are of a dusky olive-
colour, while the belly is perfectly white, with a
shade of pink during the summer season.
The Loach, Loche, or Beardie {Cohitis bar-
hatula), Fig. 7, is a little fish, not uncommon in our
Fig. 7.
rivers and brooks, but which, from its habit of
lurking under stones, is not often observed. It will
live well in the Aquavivarium. It may be known
from the other fish we have mentioned by the
little barbules around its mouth. Many other fish
have this appendage, and they are said all of them
to feed at the bottom of the water. The Loach
feeds upon the various kinds of worms, aquatic
insects, and the smaller Crustacea. These latter
sometimes abound in our ponds ; and by fishing with
a muslin net may often be obtained in large quan-
tities as food for the fish of an Aquavivarium.
The Gudgeon [Gobio fluviatilis), Fig. 8, is another
Fig. 8.
48 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
barbuled little fisli, abundant in the Thames, and a
very free biter, so free that he has passed into a
proverb ; nevertheless, he lives well in domestica-
tion, and not being of large size — never exceeding
eight inches in length — is well adapted for our
domestic exjDeriments.
Any of the other species of Cyiwinidoe which have
been obtained may be put into the A qua vivarium j
all fish should, however, be carefully watched, lest
they should die. When sickening, as may easily
be seen by their unsteady gait when swimming, or
turning occasionally on to their backs, they should be
removed and put into fresh water, and by this means
they may be made to revive ; but should they die,
and decay in the water with other things, great
hazard is run of the loss of the whole of the
creatures.
II.— INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
1. Articulata.
The Spiders {Araneidce) take the highest rank
amongst invertebrate animals. The different groups
of this large family perform a surprising variety of
functions. They are adapted for various modes of
life, and one group live in the water. The habits
of the aquatic species differ ; some live upon the
surface of the water, and have their nests at the
edges of the pool or pond on which they live ;
another species has the power of diving ; it con-
structs its nest at the bottom of the water, and car-
ries down, by a peculiar arrangement, a sufficient
quantity of air to breathe under the water. This
is the common Water Spider {Argyroneta aquatica),
ANIMALS FOR. 49
Fig. 9. This species is very common, and forms
an interesting inhabitant in an Aquavivarium.
Care must be taken,
however, not to place
it in the same jar with
fishes, or other crea-
tures which might
make it their prey.
The membrane wliich
surrounds the body,
and contains the air, is
trans2:)arent, so that the
spider looks in the
water as thougfh its
»
-p body was composed of
nothing but a bubble
of air. It is very active, and is a most amusing
creature.
The Crustacea, the family to which Crabs, Lob-
sters, and Shrimps belong, have not so many
representatives in fresh as in salt water ; at the
same time, a large number of species are common
enough in our fresh waters. The largest of our
fresh-water Crustaceans is the Common Paver Cray-
fish {Astacus Jluviatilis). It is found in almost all
the rivers and larger streams of Great Britain, and
is brought to London in considerable quantities as
an article of food. I have often bought them at
the fishmonger's, but must confess to not having
succeeded in keeping them alive. My friend
Dr. Ball, of Dublin, however, succeeded in keeping
one for some time ; and Professor Bell, in his
classical work on the Stalk- eyed Crustacea of Great
Britain, has given the following account of his pet
from Dr. Ball. " I once had a domesticated cray-
fish, which I kept in a glass pan, in water not more
than an inch and a half deep ; previous experiments
E
50 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
having shown that in deeper water, probably for
want of sufficient aeration, the animal would not
live long. By degrees my prisoner became very
bold ; and when I held my fingers at the edge of
the vessel, he assailed them with promptness and
energy. About a year after I had him, I perceived,
as I thought, a second crayfish with him ; on exa-
mination, I found it to be his old coat, which he
had left in a most perfect state. My friend had
now lost his heroism, and fluttered about in the
greatest agitation. He was quite soft, and every*
time I entered the room during the next two days
he exhibited the wildest terror. On the third he
appeared to gain confidence, and ventured to use
his nippers, though with some timidity, and he was
not yet quite so hard as he had been. In about a
week, however, he became bolder than ever ; his
weapons were sharper, and he appeared stronger,
and a nip from him was no joke. He lived in all
about two years."
The Entomostracous Crustacea are most of them
fresh-water; they are known from the other Crusta-
cea by their sessile eyes, and the absence of branchiae,
or any organs to supply their place. Dr. Baird's
beautiful book on the British forms of these crea-
tures, published by the Ray Society, contain coloured
illustrations of every species. They are charming
objects under the microscope, as their transparent
shells permit the whole of their internal structure
to be seen through them. There is one species a
great rarity, — the Cancer stagnalis of Linnseus, the
Chirocephalus diaphanus of recent writers. It is a
beautiful transparent Crustacean, swimming upon
its back, and exhibiting very elegant movements in
the water. It is found in abundance on Blackheath
Common, and in the ponds by the road-side which
are dried up for a great part of the year. It
ANIMALS FOR.
51
deposits ova, which live in the mud ; and if a little
of this is taken and put into water, the Ghiro-
cephcdi will hatch in a few days.
The Water-Flea (Daphnia pidex), and a number
of other small forms, belong to this family of
Crustacea.
Fig. 10.
The Insects constitute the largest family of
articulate animals. AVhole tribes of many of the
orders into which they are divided live in the
water. No Aquavivarium can be considered per-
fect without some of the varied forms of aquatic
insects. Some are more common and easily caught
than others, and to these we will call attention.
We shall begin with the Beetles (Coleojytera), as
they fornish us in this country with the most con-
spicuous forms of aquatic insects. The largest of
our insects is the great aquatic beetle called
Hyclrophilus piceus. It is the type of the family
Hydrophilidce, which although species are found all
over the world, none are so large as in our own
country. This large beetle (Fig. 10) needs hardly
E 2
52
THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
any description, as it may be known by its size.
The female possesses tbe faculty of spinning a
gummy envelope for its eggs, which it attaches to
water-plants ; this nest is nearly an inch in breadth,
and contains fifty or sixty eggs. The young, when
hatched, feed upon small aquatic Crustacea and
mollusca. When taking their prey, they bend back
their heads so far that they make use of their backs
as a table to support their food. The larva, when
full grown, creeps out of the water, burrows in an
adjacent bank, — where it remains for some days
as a pupa, and at last comes forth as a perfect
beetle.
Fig. 11.
Fig. 12.
Another family of Water Beetles are the Dyti-
cidce. The best-known form of these insects is the
Dyticus marginalis. This is much more common
than the last beetle, and the male and female
may be taken in most of our fresh- water ponds.
(Figs. 11 and 12.) Their structure is exceedingly
interesting, and those who maintain an Aqua-
vivarium for instruction rather than amusement,
ANIMALS FOR.
03
will find in the whole structure of these creatures
marvellous adaptations to their position in creation.
The Dyticus is much more ravenous than the
Hydrophilus, and everything eatable will sufier
more or less from its attacks. Even the stickleback
is no match for it. and tadpoles it devours by dozens
in the day. It has no hesitation in attacking the
Hvdrophilus, though nearly twice its size. Its
larvae are as destructive and tyrannical as itself,
and have got the unenviable title of ''\Vater-Devils."
I once put two into a bottle together, and carried
them for about an hour in my pocket ; on looking
at them at the end of that time, I found, in spite
of beinsr in the dark
and agitated in my
pocket, tliat Cain had
slain and eaten his
brother Abel. They
attack almost every-
thinof indiscriminate-
ly ; the Water-Scor-
pions {Xepa) are often
their victims (Fig. 13).
Most of the water-
beetles fly at night,
and if the Aqua\'iva-
rium is not covered
over, they may thus
be lost.
The genus Colym-
betes is another member of the family Dyticidoi,
and embraces species of water-beetles of a smaller
size though not less interesting in their habits
(Figs. 14 and 15).
The little family of Whirlgigs, also Beetles
{Gyr'inidce), should not be neglected. They may be
easilv known bv their whirlinof movements on the
r^-=E^
k^
i^-
F=rt=
t
1
1
_- ~-_i
_
1
^.
^ <ju
i_
^^^
;
j--.rrr-
M
■
w^^
Fig. 13.
54
THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
surface of tlie water, which
are one of the earliest har-
bingers of sj)ring.
Another order of Insects,
the Hemiptera, may be well
represented in the Aqua-
vivarium. Of these insects
we have two very common
well - marked forms, the
Water Scorpion {Nepa),
Fig. 13, and the Water Boatmen {Notonecta\
Figs IG and 17. Their movements form a pleasing
variety in contrast with those of other insects.
Fig. 14.
Fig. 15.
Fig. 17.
Fig. 16.
The larv83 of many of the
Hemiptera and Diptera in-
habit fresh water, and may
be kept till their last changes
are expected. In the spring,
the Caddice-worms (Fig. 18),
which inhabit little cases of
' most varied structure, may be collected, and their
habits watched. They are the larvse of various
species of Phryganea, and representatives of the
order Trichoptera.
•Fig. 18.
ANIMALS FOR.
55
2. Mollusca.
The ocean is the great home of the Mollusca, but
some of them live on land, as our familiar slugs and
snails ; and others live in fresh waters. These may-
be collected for the fresh Aqua vivarium. We have
before pointed out their office as scavengers, and a
few forms will be introduced to the reader. The Mol-
lusca are divided into two great families, one gene-
rally characterized by having one shell {G aster oijodci)^
the other by having two shells {Conchifera). The
first produces the most numerous and more common
examples. The Coil-Shells {Pla-
noi'his) are the prettiest and most
useful of these animals. The
Margined Coil-Shell {JPlanorhis
marginatus), Fig. 19, is found
very commonly in stagnant waters
and slow rivers ; and from its
habit of eating the Confervse, and
avoiding the higher plants, is one
of the most useful of the Mollusca
in the Aquavivarium.
The Mud-Shells {Limneus) are a gi'eat contrast
in form to the Coil-Shells, and the
smaller species, as the Marsh Mud-
Shell {Limneus pereger), Fig. 20, may
be safely introduced into our fresh-
water collections. Care must, how-
ever, be taken about the large Lake
Mud-Shell {Limneus stagnalis), Fig. 21,
which has an appetite proportionate
to its size, and prefers above everything
a salad of Valisneria. Where the
vegetation in a jar or tank is very
Fig. 19.
Fig. 20.
56
THE AQUAVIVARiUM.
prolific, one or two of these fellows may be put in
to eat it down, but tliey should be removed before
every leaf is cleared off. Another genus which
should be represented is that of the Marsh-Shells
{Paludina). Of these the beautiful Crystalline and
Common Marsh-Shells {P. vivijMra, Fig. 22, and
Fig. 22.
Fig. 21.
P. achatina) should find their way into every col-
lection.
The Conchifera have fewer rej)resentatives than
the Gasteropoda. Almost any of them may be
introduced into the Aquavivarium. Several of
them are of large size ; the Swan Fresh-water
Mussel (Aoiodon Cygneus) is one of the largest, and
is a common inhabitant of ponds. The most inter-
esting: of our fresh-water shells is the Pearl Mussel
ANIMALS FOR.
{Alasmodon margaritiferus), Fig. 23. It is in the
shells of this mussel that pearls are most frequently
Fig. 23.
found : they occur occasionally in all the larger
forms of mussels. In the inside of all shells a
beautiful lustrous substance is found, called nacre ;
if this, from any cause, concretes together, it
forms a pearl. Pearls may be formed artificially,
by introducing some irritating substance between
the mantle and shell. Linnseus, the great natu-
ralist, was aware of this, and thought to make his
fortune by the discovery. British pearls were
known in "the time of the Romans, and it is said
the reputation of these pearls was one of the minor
inducements that brought Caesar and his soldiers to
our shores. They are still procured from the mussel
in the river Conway, and although inferior in size
and colour to those obtained from the pearl oysters,
are introduced into the less-prominent parts of the
ornaments which are manufactured from them.
3. Radiata.
To this class of animals the various forms of
Infusorial Animalcules {Infusoria) belong.
Under all cii^cumstances they will generally be
58 THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
found abundant in the Aquavivarium, and will
afford constant opportunity for the use of the
microscope. With regard to the other forms of
Radiata, few of them have representatives in fresh
water. The few that exist are of great interest ;
thus the Fresh- water Hydra represents a very large
family, found in great abundance in the sea. These
creatures are called zoophytes. A family of these,
much higher in organization than the Hydra, exists
in our fresh waters, and bv some writers are referred
to the Mollusca. These animals are called Polyzoa:''
Although their general structure may be easily
recognized by the naked eye, the microscope is
required to examine the varied and delicate forms
of the polyps of which they are composed.
Another family of the Radiata found in fresh
water are the Sponges. The Fresh- water Sponge
{Spongilla Jluviatilis) is not uncommon in the
Thames, and the other rivers of England. It would
be an elegant addition to the fresh-water vivary,
but I have never been able to make it live.
* A monograph of the British Fresh-water Polyzoa, by
Professor Allman, of Edinburgh, is announced for publica-
tion by the Ray Society.
ANIMALS FOR. 59
CHAPTER YL
OX THE MAPJXE AQUAYIYAEIUM.
Mr. Gosse's excellent little book on the Salt-
water Yivaiy renders it unnecessary that we should
treat at any length on this department of our
subject. The principles to be acted on are the
same ; and those who have carefully read and
thought over our remarks up to this point will be
already prepared to coustruct a marine Aqua-
vivarium. There is no doubt that the marine col-
lection is more difficult to mauage, and requires a
nicer attention to details ; at the same time, it is
unquestionably more interesting. The sea presents
a much greater variety of forms of life than the
rivers and fresh waters. These creatures illustrate
more ftdlv the crreat laws that orovern the forms of
animal life, and no due conception can be formed
of the beauty, variety, and unity of design in the
structure of the animal kingdom unless they are
studied ; we recommend, then, most strongly, at-
tempts at the maintenance of a marine Ac[ua-
vivarium. They may be started and kept going
most successfully at the sea-side ; but we would
warn all our readers of the difficulty of moving
them. Sea plants and creatures may, however, be
conveniently carried in wide-mouthed jars, such as
pickle-jars ; and sea water may be carried in stone
bottles. It is very much less trouble, and almost
less expense, to buy both creatures and sea water at
CO THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
some of the numerous dealers who live now in all our
large towns.
In making arrangements for a marine Aquaviva-
rium, great care is necessary that the plants grow
well before the animals are introduced. Sea-weeds
are of three kinds, and are coloured olive, green,
and red ; of these the best are the green, the next
are the red. They should be introduced into the
water growing upon the stones or rocks to which
they are naturally attached. In the course of three
or four days they will get well established, then
the marine creatures may be introduced. And here
let me give one caution, — heivare of overstocking ;
overstocking is the ruin of nine out of ten of the
collections that are made ; it is the child making
itself sick with its otherwise wholesome cake ', it is
the miser forfeiting all the happiness of life for the
sake of gold ; it is the drunkard killing himself
with the beneficial juice of the grape. The apo-
stolic injunction of being temperate in all things is
especially necessary here. According to the size of
the tank or jar, first one actinia then another, then
a starfish, then a fish, may be admitted to the com-
munity ; but the multiplication of them must be
carefully watched, or any morning you may wake
up to find corruption and desolation have seized
your happy home.
Another rule which I have found of use in marine
collections is, not to endeavour to keep creatures
whose residence is the deep sea. The creatures
that occur between high and low water-mark, or
those whose residence is the next zone of depth,
are best adapted for the Aquavivarium. In these
localities will be found zoophytes, actiniae, star-
fishes, mollusca, and even fishes sufficient to give
great variety to the sea-water vivary. Mr. Lloyd
has published a list of upwards of fifty species
ANIMALS FOR.
61
of marine animals that he has successfully kept in
Aquavivaria.""
One of the most important discoveiies in relation
* We subjoin Mr. Lloyd's
Sea-weeds. — Green.
Ulva latissima.
,, lactuca.
Entermorpha intestinalis.
,, compressa.
Cladophora arcta.
,, rupestris.
Bryopsis plumosa.
Red.
Iridasa edulis.
Griffithsia setacea.
Delesseria sanguinea.
„ alata.
Corallina officinalis.
Ehodomela subfusca.
Gracilaria confervoides.
Gelidium corneutn.
Chondrus crispus.
Phyllophora mbeas.
Polyides rotundus.
Ceramium rnbrum.
list:—
Bunodes alba.
,, gemmacea.
,, thallia.
,, clavata.
,, crassicornis.
Actinia mesenbryanthe-
mum.
Anthea cereus.
Adamsia palliata.
Edwardsia sphseroides.
,, vestita.
Corynactis viridis.
Zoophytes. — Madrepores.
Carophyllia Smithii.
Balanophyllia regia.
Sea Aneraones.
Sagartia viduata=anguicoma
,, troglodytes.
,, aurora.
„ Candida.
,, miniata.
„ • rosea.
„ nivea.
„ venusta.
„ parasitica.
„ bellis.
„ dianthus.
,, aurantiaca.
„ pulcherrima.
Naked and Tcbkd
Hydroida.
Clava multicornis.
Hydractinia ecbinata.
Coryne pusilla.
Tubularia indivisa.
Sertularia polyzonias.
,, abietina.
,, filicula.
,, cupressina.
Thuiaria thuia.
Antennularia antennina.
Campanularia volubilis.
Laomedea geniculata.
Star-Fishes and Sea
Urchins.
Uraster rubens.
Asterina gibbosa.
Goniaster equestris.
Echinus miliaris.
,, sphaera.
Sea Cucumbers.
Pentactes pentacta.
Ocnus brunneus.
62
THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
to the marine Aquavivarium is, that sea water may
be artificially made. I need not trace the history
of this discovery ; in it the names of Ward, Gosse,
and Lloyd honourably appear. The only difference
between sea and fresh water is, that the sea contains
Tube and other Worms.
Sabellaria alveolata.
Sabella ventilabrum.
,, reniformis.
,, tubularia.
Serpula contortuplicata.
,, triquetra.
Terebella conchilega.
Pectinaria Belgica.
Spirorbis communis.
Spio seticornis,
Pontobdella muricata.
Aphrodita aculeata.
Nereis bilineata.
,, pelagica,
Phyllodoce viridis.
Crustacea.
Idotaea appendiculata.
Palaemon serratus.
,, Leachii.
,, squilla.
Crangon vulgaris.
Hippolyte Thompsoni.
Porcellana platycheles.
Pagurus Bernhardus.
,, Prideauxii.
Carcinus Msenas.
Cancer pagurus.
Portunus depurator.
Xantho florida.
Barnacles.
Balanus balanoides.
Pyrgoma Anglicum.
Vesicularia spinosa.
Serialia leudigera.
Lepralia.
Membranipora pilosa.
POLYZOA.
Bowerbankia imbricata.
MOLLUSKS.
Nassa reticulata.
Murex erinaceus.
Litorina litorea.
,, rudis.
Natica monilifera.
Purpura lapillus.
Rissoa.
Trochus cinereus.
,, ziziphinus.
Haliotis tuberculata.
Fissurella reticulata.
Patella vulgata.
Dentalium entalis.
Ostrea edulis.
Anomia epbippium.
Doris,
-^girus.
Ancula.
Tritonia.
Eolis.
Aplysia hybrida.
Pecten maximus.
,, opercularis.
,, varius.
Mytilus edulis. •
Modiola modiolus.
,, barbata.
Saxicava rugosa.
Pholas dactylus.
Ascidia Virginia, &c.
Cynthia quadrangularis, &c.
Botryllus polycyclus, &c.
ANIMALS FOR. 63
saline matters which have been accurately ascer-
tained by the chemist. These saline matters, of
which common salt is the princi]xil, may be added
to fresh water, and that transformation is effected
by which the great Creator of all maintains the
eternal distinctions between the plants and animals
of the ocean and the fresh waters of the earth.
The following are the proportions in which the
saline constituents of sea water exist in 100 lbs. of
water : —
Oz. Grs.
Chloride of Sodium 4-31 0
Chloride of Masrnesia ----- 6 0
Chloride of Calcium ----- 1^0
Bromide of Magnesia - - - - - 0 21
Sulphate of Magnesia ----- 7^ 0
Sulphate of Lime ------2f0
Carbonate of Lime -----021
I now proceed to refer to a few marine creatures,
rather as illustrations of the forms of sea life which
may be domesticated in the drawing-room than as
an account of the numberless animals which may
be kept in the Aqua vivarium. To begin with the
Fishes. Those which inhabit the little pools left
by the receding tide on the shores of our oceans,
as the Father Lasher {Cottus bubalis), and the
Water Scorpion (C scorpio), the Blennies {Blennius),
and the Conger Eel are all adapted for a marine
Fishes.
Gasterosteus spinachia.
Cottus scorpius.
„ bubalis.
,, quadricornis.
Gobius niger.
,, unipunctatus.
,, minutus.
„ Euthensparji.
Syngnathus acus.
„ typhle.
,, lumbriciformis.
Muraenoides guttata.
Blennius ocellaris.
,, pholis.
Labrus maculatus.
Crenilabrus coruubicus.
64
THE AQUAVIVARIUM.
collection ; whilst of those that swim at a little dis-
tance from the shore, the Pipe Fishes (Syngnathus),
the Mullets, and the Wrasses, have a singular power
of maintaining their existence in the Aquavivarium.
The Grey Mullet {Mugil capito) is a beautiful
fish of our shores, both on the dish and in the
tank, and has succeeded better than any other
sea fish in the Regent's Park collection.
Fig. 24.
The Wrasses are extremely beautiful fish, and
may vie in the splendour and beauty of their
colouring with even birds and butterflies. The
Ballan Wrasse {Lahrus herghylta), Fig. 25, though
Fig. 25.
not perhaps the handsomest species, is one which
lives well, and deserves every encouragement.
The Articulate animals of the sea are very nume-
rous. The larger forms of Crustacea can only be
introduced sparingly into the Aquavivarium, as
they run over and devour other things. Of the
Crabs, the Hermit Crab [Pagurus Bernhardus) is
ANIMALS FOK.
65
perhaps the most interesting and amusing. He has
no hardened shell of his own, and has to seek an
empty moUnsk-shell in which to reside (Fig. 26)^
Fig. 26.
He is a troublesome though amusing companion ; he
has not the slightest respect for any of your delicate
pets, or elegant arrangements, but, like a rude burly
fellow with boisterous spirits, upsets everything he
comes near, and that with the utmost good-nature.
Lobsters, Shrimps, Spider-Crabs, and all the
beautiful things named in Mr. Bell's book on the
British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, when caught, may be
introduced, and their habits watched ; some, as
shrimps, prawns, and spider-crabs, will live only
for a few days.
The Anne-
lides are a nu-
merous family.
At the sea-side
- their forms
may be advan-
tageously stu-
died by the aid
of Mr. Gosse's
Fig
Zoology. The one
which
F
of all
most
little
others
useful
Marine
best
is
6(j
THE AQUAVIVAKIUM.
adapted for the Aquavivarium is the Serpula con-
tortuplicata (Fig. 27). This creature is a study
of itself : look at that curved case attached to a
stone or a rock, an old bottle or a shell. How curi-
ously formed ; that tuft of orange-coloured hairs
is its gills, and the long red funnel is a sort of
stopper with which it corks itself up when it
retires into its tube. There are many other Anne-
lides, such as the Sea Mice {Ai^hrodikt) and the
Nereids, which may be kept and watched with
interest.
Four portly volumes in Van Voorst's delightful
series of works on British Natural History are
devoted by the late Professor Edward Forbes and
Mr. Hanley to the subject
of the Mollusca of our own
islands alone. The majority
of these are marine. Every
shore abounds with sonae of
them, and everywhere the
Periwinkle {Litorina litorea),
Fig. 28, may be secured as
a scavenger for the con-
fervas, which grow as vigor-
ously in sea as in fresh
water. How many of these
creatures we cannot even
mention the fortunate pos- '
sessors of Forbes and Han-
ley's work will see. We
give the figure of an Asci-
dian Mollusk {Ascidia tnen-
tula), Fig. 2 9, because of their
presenting quite a different
type of organization to the
other Mollusca we have men-
tioned. Those two holes are ]pj(j 29.
Fig. 28.
ANIMALS FOR.
67
orifices tlirougli which the water passes, one carry-
ing to the animal inside the water holding food and
oxygen, the other allowing the water to escape.
The Ascidians are of various sizes and colours, and
most of them adapted for the Aquavivarium.
I would also draw the attention of the reader to
the beautiful Nudibranchiate Mollusca. They have
no shells, and are delicate creatures, — the livincr
pearls, rubies, and garnets of the ocean. Those who
wish to know more about them should consult
Alder and Hancock's great work devoted to them.
This work was published by the Ray Society at a
cost of nearly three thousand pounds, and yet those
who know these elegant creatures best will say that
this money has not been uselessly spent in their
illustration.
The Star-fishes, including the Sea- eggs and the
Sea-cucumbers (EcMnodermcda\ are another family
that claim attention. They are not very tenacious
of life, but are too interesting to be passed over in
our marine collections. The Common Cross-fish,
or Five-fingers {JJraater ruhens), is met with on
Fl-G
every coast. THeir spines, their suckers, their
beautiful cases, are all worthy of study, and they
cannot be better studied than with Edward Forbes's
F 2
68 THE AQUA VIVARIUM.
" History of British Star-fishes" in hand. Those
who will not be charmed with both book and
fishes had better give up the pursuit of natural
history.
We present here the picture
of a beautiful orange-red little
fellow, who has flourished well
in Regent's Park, and is called
the Gibbous Railet {Asterias
gibhosa). Fig. 31.
We must add one word in
favour of Jelly-fishes {Aca-
leplKje). These fragile, but
beautiful creatures, consist Fig. 31.
principally of water. They,
nevertheless, possess a varied and complicated
structure. To the student of the microscope they
aiford unbounded facilities for study, on account
of their transparency. They may be caught by
means of a muslin net, which, carried along by a
iDoat, or attached to the end of a rod on the banks
of a tidal estuary, will secure, on most parts of our
coast, great numbers. These, too, should be studied
in the work of Edward Forbes, whose pen and
pencil illustrated so wide a range of our native
natural history.
The last group of creatures we shall mention
before closing are the Sea-anemones — the Actinice.
These are the glories of the marine Aquavivarium
— the sea-flowers that have been grown in marine
caves in the Zoological Gardens, for the special
behest of those Londoners who never see them at
the sea-side. To write all that might be said about
them would be to write a larger book than this.
Their beauties have been celebrated by Mr. Gosse,
Dr. Badham, and Mrs. S. C Hall, in their writings,
and I can only confirm their remarks. If you
ANIMALS FOR.
69
want to take them yourself, you must avoid sandy
sea-sliores, and spend your holidays amongst the
rocks. You will find them at Margate and Rams-
gate, the Isle of "Wight, and Weymouth ; in fact,
wherever there ,
are rocks co-
vered by the sea.
My illustrations
extend to three.*
First, the beauti-
ful Anthea cereus,
with its long, de-
pendent, languid-
looking filaments,
which are never
retracted within
its body (Fig. 32).
Second, the Cori-
aceous Sea -ane-
mone (Actinia
coriaceci), Fig. 33,
the most common
form of all the
sea-anemones of
our coast. It as-
sumes a great va-
riety of colours,
from a bright
orange to a dark
green, and almost
perfectly white.
They bear almost
Fig. 32.
Fig. 33.
* For these and some other illustrations, the Author is
indebted to Mr. Mitchell, Secretary of the Zoological So-
ciety, for permitting his artist to copy from the drawings
illustrating the collection in the Aquarium in the gardens in
Regent's Park.
70
THE AQUAVIVAEIUM.
any kind of treatment, and live for a great length
of time. A friend of mine had some very lively
ones which had been brought up from the sea-side
in a wine-bottle, which had been emptied of its
sea-water, and sent to a neighbouring public-house
for beer. The mistake was discovered, and the
creatures were transferred to their natural ele-
ment, where they flourished for many months.
There is a large form, called Actinia crassicornis,
which is probably a variety of the last. Third,
the Actinia Mesemhryanthemum, Fig. 34. Like the
last, it is subject to great variety of colour. It
is known by the row
of beautiful blue tu-
bercles around its
mouth. It lives be-
tween tide-marks,
and entirely incloses
its tentacles within
its body when out of
the water. But for
further information
on this and the many
other interesting spe-
cies of Actinia, I must refer the reader to John-
ston's " History of British Zoophytes," Mr. Gosse's
" Aquarium,'\and Dr. Landsborough's " Zoophytes."
Fig. 34.
I have now finished my task, and trust this little
book will contribute to a taste for the cultivation of
natural history pursuits. The Aqua vivarium may
be made a source of amusement, instruction, and
improvement. Those who commence it for amuse-
ment will, I trust, not be satisfied with that end,
ANIMALS FOR, 71
but make the study of the beautiful objects it con-
tains an introduction to the wider field of nature
beyond. Such an exercise of the mind, when
properly pursued, must lead to thoughts of the
Goodness, Wisdom, and Love of Him —
" That plann'd, and built, and still upholds a world
So clothed with beauty for rebellious man."
To the thoughtful student, it will soon be appa-
rent, that the life in the glass tank, in its various
forms and manifestations, is dependent on laws by
which the whole universe is governed. Approached
in this spirit, we shall find that our A qua vivarium
may not only supply amusement and instruction,
but lead the mind to the Giver of all Life and
the contemplation of a universe governed by His
Wisdom and His Love.
-«x>>*<c
ROBERT BARUWICKE, fRINTER, DUKE STREET, PICCADILLY.
E.Hardmcke ZSDiike S^Rccadilly Oce-"2l.l856.
in.
RHaxdrnGke 26 Ihike S^PLccadillT Oct^ 21.1856.
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