THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1892. 5 
good. Telescope fish are as scarce as 
ever, and the beautiful and odd ‘‘Rams- 
nose,” a sub-variety of the Nymph, are 
principally in the hands of private 
parties. 
A comparatively new fish for our 
aquariums is the Gold Tench (Tinca 
auratus.) This fish was certainly not 
sufficiently known when it was said 
that ‘‘ it hides all the time under rocks 
and plants, and once or twice in a year 
you get a peep of it. The onlvy satis- 
faction one has, is, that he knows that 
he put a Gold Tench into his aquarium. 
If he wants a visitor to see it he will 
have to stir it up with a stick.” Ihave 
found this fish very easy to domesticate ; 
it required but a few days to teach 
them to come to the surface of the 
water to take food out of my hand. 
They are a much livelier fish than the 
goldfish ; very playful, just as attract- 
“ive in color as the latter and always in 
view, intelligently following the spec- 
tator around the sides of the tank in 
expectation of some dainties, 
Now, while the time is at hand to 
clean and re-arrange the aquarium for 
the colder season, a new supply of 
aquatic plants is often wanted, for even 
the best of us will meet with an acci- 
dent sometimes and lose a valuable 
plant, while others, for the sake of 
variety, wish to try some different kind. 
Fortunately for us all, the number of 
species and varieties of aquatic plants 
which answer our purpose is steadily 
increasing. Sagittaria ‘New Era,’a seed- 
ling of the good old Sagittaria natans, is 
a good novelty, being more robust in 
growth than its parent. Still larger 
than the preceding is the Sag. ‘ Fran- 
cis M.,’ a hybrid between New Era and 
Sag. lanciolata. Its immersed leaves are 
gracefully curved, while those growing 
out of the water are decidedly lance- 
shaped. In either stage they are very 
decorative. The different varieties of 
Cabomba especially the C. rosaefolia 
look well with Sagittarias as a back- 
ground, while Ludwigia Mulerttii is the 
plant par excellence for a conspicuous 
open space in the tank, the beautiful 
shapes and colors of its leaves having 
then a chance to develop to perfection. 
A very interesting plant of recent 
introduction is the Parrot’s feather 
(Myriophyllum proserpinacoides). It 
is a near relative to our American 
Millfoil (M. spicatum). It grows 
best if allowed to float about on the 
surface of the water. If permitted 
to overhang the aquarium frame 
it adds greatly to the appearance of the 
whole collection. 
The Water Hyacinth (Hichhornia 
crassipes) is a curious and pretty float- 
ing plant. Its large feathery roots are 
no less attractive than the odd shaped 
leaf-stems. If the aquarium is favor- 
ably located and large enough, a large 
blue flower-spike will frequently make 
its appearance. 
The smaller floaters, such as Trianea 
bogotensis, Salvinia amazonica and 
Azolla palustris should not be forgotten 
when restocking the aquarium for the 
winter. Floating plants impart to the 
aquarium that peculiarly charming ap- 
pearance which is so much admired 
along the shores of small lakes. An 
aquarium is nothing more nor less than 
a miniature lake ; then why not copy 
the lake in all its details ? AQUARIUS. 
The Chinese umbrella plant.(Cyperus 
alternifolia) is an excellent aquarium 
plant, but only for ornamental purposes. 
For the purpose of aerating the water, 
one must have plants that grow below 
the surface of the water. 
