256 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



AQUARIA. 



"All the world's bravery, that delights our eyes, 

 Is but thy several liveries ; 

 Thou the rich dye on them bestowest, 

 Thy nimble pencil paints the landscape as thou goest. 



" A crimson garment in the rose thou wear'st, 

 A crown of studded gold thou bear'st, 

 The virgin lilies, in their white, 

 Are clad but with the lawn of almost naked light." 



Cowley. 



I RE ALLY should feel delicate in asking space 

 for more gossip on aquaria, had not a reader ol 

 your journal reminded me of an omission I made in 

 my last letter. 



I most certainly ought, when discussiug the 

 relative merits of real versus artificial sea-water, to 

 have mentioned light, aspect, and form of tank, and 

 as "Mr. B." has noticed this want, other corre- 

 spondents may do the same, so I send up the result 

 of my experience in these matters. 



First of all, as regards the form of the aquarium, 

 I prefer a perfectly plain slate one, the front and 

 top alone being composed of glass: such an arrange- 

 ment tends to keep the water cool, and only allows 

 the light to enter the water through the surface. The 

 light falls on it, does not come in sideways, as 

 through a glass bowl or globe, and it appears to me 

 to be a far more natural way of fitting up a home 

 for creatures whose proper habitation is in the sea, 

 where all the light they get must come from above, 

 and reach them through water. 



A Blue, speaking to me on this subject, once said, 

 " All below is dark as night ; " * and again, " Let 

 but the surface of the sea be ruffled by a passing 

 wind, and little if any light can be transmitted." 

 It is all very well for scientific people to say this, 

 and I will take it for granted that it is correct, for 

 I am not scientific ; but as most of the animals we 

 stock tanks with do not reside in the "dark as 

 night, deep below," but in shallow pools, and on 

 rocks which are left partially uncovered by the re- 

 treating tide, where the glorious rays of the blazing 

 sun must reach them, I like to procure for them, 

 when in an aquarium, a fair proportion of light. No 

 one who has watched sea-anemones expand their 

 tentacles, under the influence of a bright sunshiny 

 day, can doubt its being beneficial to them when it 

 is properly regulated. 



As the amount of water in a tank is comparatively 

 small, too much sunshine would heat it, therefore 

 some shading is needful. The window in which the 

 aquarium stands should be opened at the top to 

 admit air, and I like a green blind better than a 

 white one. 



The rock-work ought to be arranged so as to 

 afford shade. Small caverns and miniature over- 



* If the sea is " dark as night below," how do divers (men, 

 not the birds so called) tee to work ? 



hanging rocks are very easily made, and tufts of 

 growing alga; give protection to some of the smaller 

 zoophytes. 



The heat of the water in the tank should be as 

 nearly as possible that of the ocean, which is said to 

 be 5G degrees, and never varies more than 12 in 

 the entire year. 



Many aquaria are made with sloping backs, in 

 order to give the different animals various depths 

 of water. I like to build the sloping back up 

 myself, with rocks, shells, and seaweed. 



The glass cover should be made in two pieces : 

 they must not meet, as the space is necessary for 

 the purpose of admitting air. Some people use 

 coloured glass, and I fancy it does increase the 

 colour in the seaweeds, especially if it approaches 

 the sea-green in shade; but I always use plain glass, 

 because I can distinguish the creatures in the 

 aquarium so much better through it. 



Aquarium thermometers are to be procured. I 

 saw one lately which had been purchased at 

 Negretti's, but whether at his stall in the Crystal 

 Palace, or his place of business in town, I never 

 thought of asking. It answered well. Perhaps it 

 will not be out of place to add that a maker of very 

 good slate aquaria lives in Anglesea (Mr. Edwards, 

 of the Menai Bridge) . The slate quarries near " Nant 

 Prancon," better known as the " Penrhyn quarries," 

 supply the raw material. Pancy "Duchesses," 

 "Countesses," and "Ladies," the titles given to slates 

 of different sizes, being cut up and made aqua- 

 ria of; why it is almost as bad as turning poor 

 Princess Joan's stone coffin into a horse-trough! 

 But thanks to the late Lord Batheley, it has been 

 rescued from such degradation, and placed in a very 

 pretty retired spot in the grounds of "Baron Hill " 

 (Sir Richard Batheley's handsome residence near 

 Beaumaris), to point a moral, and perchance adorn 

 a tale; for where could romance find a darker 

 episode, in all the records of history, whereon to 

 found a story, than the legend of William de Beros 

 and Prince Llewelyn's wife ? 



' The gorgeous pageantry of times gone by, 

 The tilt, the tournament, the vaulted hall." 



Helen E. Watmey. 



Squirrel versus Missel-thrush (p. 23S). — 

 The facts given by " G. H. H." under the above 

 head cannot be considered conclusive, unless we 

 are told that the squirrels he refers to were iu a 

 state of nature. I strongly suspect that they were 

 not, and many animals, when under confinement, 

 will adopt a different kind of diet to what they are 

 accustomed when wild. Por my part, I fully be- 

 lieve the squirrel is " not guilty " of the crime laid 

 to its charge, and I an. pleased that another corre- 

 spondent (p. 237) takes a similar view of the case. 

 — H. C. Sargent. 



