CHAPTER III, 
PLANTS SUITABLE FOR VIVARIA. 
ERTAIN plants in certain Vivaria are both useful and 
& ornamental ; nevertheless plant life in the Vivarium is of 
only secondary importance. 
A Fern-case properly made and furnished is a very suitable 
habitation for some Reptiles and Batrachians. The ferns provide 
the animals with convenient retiring places and pleasant shade, 
and the latter are of benefit to the former by freeing them 
of injurious insects, and the two together, Ferns and Reptiles, 
are a very interesting possession. Ferns should, as a rule, have 
an abundance of light, and yet they ought to be shaded to a great 
extent from the direct rays of the sun. If Lizards, however, are 
kept in a Fern-case it should be arranged that the sun can shine 
as long as possible upon some portion of the case which is access- 
ible to the Lizards. For this purpose, an arch is useful (See 
Fig. 9, p. 18), for upon it the Reptiles can climb and bask in the 
rays of the sun, which do not reach the ferns below. It is not a 
difficult matter, of course, to supply the necessary shade. 
All Fern-cases must be well-drained and well-ventilated—the 
means of ventilation being under good control. If a Fern-case be 
built like that represented by Fig. 9, the bottom of it, to the 
depth of about three inches, should be covered with cinders, 
pieces of brick, coke, or stone, broken to the size of a pigeon’s 
egg, and to prevent the mould from being washed down among 
the stones and the like, they ought to be protected by a layer of 
moss, cocoa-nut fibre, or a sheet of perforated zinc cut the 
