84 THE AQUATIC GARDEN. 



white, feathery, lace-like flowers, cannot fail to obtain 

 sincere admiration. In Lancashire this plant is much 

 esteemed and gathered by the common people, the 

 intense bitter of the leaves being esteemed a good 

 stomachic. In Sweden and Norway the leaves are 

 used in brewing beer, instead of hops. The plant has 

 the floral peculiarity of bearing two sets of flowers, 

 and is therefore dimorphous. 



We now turn to those common plants which are 

 more distinctly aquatic than some of those we have 

 just noticed. Of these by far the most widely dis- 

 tributed is the water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis}. 

 It bears two sets of leaves, those intended for floating 

 on the surface, which are broad and slightly lobed ; 

 and others which are always immersed. The latter 

 are the most numerous, and are thread-like and 

 feathery, often growing so fast as to form dense 

 tangles. The flowers are pure white, with numerous 

 yellow stamens. They rise singly above the water, and 

 may be seen covering our ponds with a perfect carpet 

 of flowers. The water ranunculus is a famous hiding 

 place for aquatic objects. Water spiders build their 

 queer, " diving-bell " like nests amid its leaves ; insect 

 larvae hide in the depths of its thickets ; rotifers attach 

 their frail cases to its tiny threads ; fishes of all kinds 

 lie in wait or hide from enemies, or cool themselves 

 beneath its dense and almost impenetrable foliage. 

 No aquatic plant is more useful for the aquarium, or 

 trained with greater ease ; but, Rke theAnac/taris, it has 



