GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 279 



I scarcely know a more interesting occupation, — 

 certainly there is no more delightful part of aquarian 

 study, — than the detection of some unexpected, unre- 

 cognised form of animal or vegetable life in om* 

 Tanks, and the watching of the little stranger as it 

 assumes, from day to day, new bulk, beauty, and 

 character. 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 



The Aquarium is, then, established. The water, 

 which at first is somewhat tm^bid, becomes in the 

 course of a day or two clear and crystalline ; the 

 plants expand their feathery tufts in beauty, and the 

 animals begin to take possession of their holes and 

 corners, and to find themselves at home. But you 

 must lay your account with the loss of some speci- 

 mens ; some will certainly die in the course of the 

 first twenty-four hours, others in the first week. But 

 those which survive the first ten days may be consi- 

 dered as pretty well established. 



It is during this period that the grand trial of the 

 experiment usually occm-s. There is generally a 

 large amount of animal matter attached to the sea- 

 weeds, shells, and stones, which are received from the 

 sea, such as minute Annelida, Mollusca, andZoophytes: 

 very many of these creatm'es are already dead, or die 

 immediatelv ; but beino^ too minute to be detected 

 and removed in detail, they decay, and presently con- 

 taminate the water. The first symptom of this is a 

 slight dimming of the crystal translucency, which, if 

 unchecked, soon increases to a milky whiteness, ac- 

 companied by a fetid odour, and terminates in the 

 death of the whole animal collection. 



