THE WATER CABINET. 103 
separate and smaller aquaria, the uses and economies of 
each are in a great measure distinct. It is possible to 
cultivate either without the other, though we should gene- 
rally expect to find them in company, the Cabinet being a 
growth or extension of the Aquarium. 
Construction of a Cabinet.—Ingenuity, under the con- 
trol of circumstances, will devise many modes of pre- 
serving the smaller specimens of aquatic life, and I shall 
here describe a plan which I think will be found most 
generally useful, particularly as it may have a very simple 
form, and be produced for a very trifling outlay; or may 
be elaborated into a noble piece of furniture for the 
adornment of an elegantly furnished room. 
The frontispiece represents a series of shelves fitted into 
a carved frame-work, the lower portion of which forms a 
table with drawers. My own cabinet, which is a simple 
affair of stained deal, is made after the model of the one 
here represented, but without ornament of any kind; and 
if I describe its measurements, it may serve as a guide to 
any who may desire to have one constructed of a similar 
pattern, though, as a matter of course, the plan admits of 
endless modifications to suit the means of the student, or 
the position in which such a cabinet is to be placed. 
The table measures nineteen inches from back to front 
across the centre drawer; and from back to front across 
the two side drawers, twelve inches. On this is placed a 
row of seven-inch cylindrical glasses of clear flint glass, 
and in the centre, behind the jars, stands a twelve-inch 
bell glass aquarium, to be stocked with choice fishes or 
superfluous cabinet specimens. The first shelf has a 
