A3 A FIELD OF MICROSCOPICAL RESEARCH. 27 



Aquarium. In a short practical paper like this I cannot do more 

 than suggest various objects of interest to be taken up and fol- 

 lowed by ourselves ; therefore I can only briefly describe such as 

 have presented themselves to me at various times, and afforded me 

 the pleasure I hope you may derive from similar observations. I 

 have been much pleased by the hatching of the Zoe of the Cral> 

 and Prawn, and can recommend this to your notice. Crabs and 

 Prawns bearing ova can be safely transported from the coast packed 

 in wet sea weed. I once brought a pint of live Prawns, most of 

 them bearing ova, from Dawlish, merely packing them together in 

 a basket in their wet state. They endured a twelve hours' journey 

 without apparently suffering, and I placed a dozen of them in 

 the Aquarium ; in about six weeks the young ones hatched out, 

 and could be distinguished in the sunlight as clouds of tiny specks 

 swimming together in shoals. They, like the Crabs, are entirely 

 unlike the adult form at first, and it would have been interesting 

 to have observed the number of moults they underwent before 

 arriving at that condition ; but, unfortunately for my observations, 

 the Anemones and the parent Prawns admired the young fledg- 

 lings as much as I did, but after a different manner, and they 

 gradually disappeared. It would be better in this case to establish 

 a separate tank for the study of these Crustacea, removing the 

 parents when the hatching was complete, for I can promise you a 

 rich store of interest in observing the changes which are effected 

 in these creatures in passing from the strangely-shaped Zoe to the 

 final stage of development. I would also suggest the study of 

 Foraminifera as likely to interest you. The stock may be pro- 

 cured from many sources, but the most abundant is the ooze of 

 oyster beds, where living specimens of many varieties may be 

 found. They may also be found attached to sea weeds and to old 

 shells dredged up from the sea bottom, and in your tank they will 

 soon multiply, and present themselves in every stage of develop- 

 ment. In my Aquarium various stages of the Miliolidce may be 

 seen in the summer time, anchored up by their pseudo-podia to the 

 front glass. I have had also an abundant supply of Textularia 

 and Eosalina. I do not point to these as rarities, but only to show 

 that once get your Aquarium fairly started and it will form an 

 inexhaustible store of interesting study. The Chitonidaj live well 

 in confinement, and a study of their developmental changes will 

 repay you. The eggs are exceedingly interesting objects. The 



