1 68 OUR PUBLIC AQUARIA. 



side by side, and which occupy the entire space 

 underneath the grand promenade. 



The Manchester Aquarium is a good example of 

 what can be effected in constructing and maintaining 

 marine animals under purely artificial conditions. The 

 smoky atmosphere of that town is proverbial, and 

 perhaps the least said about directly aerating the 

 tanks with it, as at Brighton, the better ! From our 

 experience, we should say it would be an additional 

 element of acclimatisation for marine animals to enjoy 

 Manchester air, seeing that even human beings get as 

 far away from it as they can ! This aquarium was 

 for a long time under the direction of Mr. Saville- 

 Kent, who states that it has been most successfully 

 maintained with storage reservoirs constructed to 

 hold a supply of water only equal to that contained 

 in the show tanks. He further declares that, " practi- 

 cally it has been kept in the highest state of efficiency, 

 with the water clear, and an abundant supply of fish 

 of the largest size, with less than one-half of this full 

 complement in the reservoirs." The Yarmouth Aqua- 

 rium was altered so as to adjust the storage reservoir 

 to the show tanks after the plan which exists at 

 Manchester. Mr. Kent contends that when sea water 

 is sufficiently clear and aerated it is unnecessary to 

 spend time and money in the formation of excessive 

 storage places. Indeed, he goes so far as to observe 

 that "it is an open question whether, by a trifling 

 increase of the pumping power, and acceleration of 



