THE AQUARIUM, JANUARY, 1897. 



89 



The Kqumriutvy. 



A Ql^arterly Magazine. 



$1.00 a Year. Single Copies, 25 cts. Each. 



Advertising Rates on Application. 



HUGO MULERTT, F. I. R. S. A., 



Editor and Publisher, 



173 Nostrand Av., Brooklyn, N. Y. 



INSTRUCTIVE PASTIME. 



When you are staying in the country, 

 and missing the flag-stones of the city, 

 confessing yourself "bored" with 

 nothing to do, and feeling the want of 

 balls, parties, theatres and operas, do 

 as we shall herein bid you, and our 

 word for it, all your ennui will be dis- 

 pelled very quickly. Get a glass jar of 

 some kind — a candy jar will do — a bat- 

 tery jar would be better — cover the 

 bottom with clean river sand and peb- 

 bles, then go to the nearest pond, and 

 get some of the plants that you will be 

 almost certain to see growing there be- 

 neath the water, and place them in your 

 jar, planting those that you find grow- 

 ing in the deep soil at the bottom of 

 the pond, in the sand of your aquarium, 

 leaving the others to float, and fill it up 

 with water. Now return to your pond and 

 search at the bottom, and on the under 

 sides of the leaves of the aquatic plants, 

 for the snails that you will be nearly 

 certain to find in those positions, and 

 when you have collected about a dozen, 

 throw them into the water of your jar, 

 Wlien your aquarium is thus prepared 

 for the reception of other live stock, 

 take a small net, made by stretching a 

 bag of mosquito-netting over a wire 

 ring, and attach to a long handle, then 

 proceed to your pond, plunge your net, 

 and drag it for some few feet along the 

 bottom ; take all it contains, when you 



draw it up, and after washing, place it 

 in your jar along with any fish and 

 tadpoles that you have been lucky 

 enough to catch, or that you can per- 

 suade any of the country urchins, for a 

 few cents, to procure for you ; and 

 then you will have an aquarium in full 

 vigor. 



Now, tell us, is an aquarium such a 

 deeply scientific affair; and is it so very 

 difficult to manufacture ? We think 

 that you will agree with us after one 

 day spent in searching for objects, and 

 the many hours you will be sure after- 

 wards to spend in watching your happy 

 prisoners, that you are not quite so 

 much " bored '' as you were, and that 

 your walk in the fresh air has done you 

 a great deal of good, and banished all 

 wishes for a city life again. 



AN ALBINO FROG. 



At the end of September a young stu- 

 dent of the Packer Institute of this 

 city told us of a curiously colored frog 

 which she had caught a day or two be- 

 fore near her country home at Orient, 

 Long Island. When the specimen was 

 brought to us afterwards for identifica • 

 tion, we recognized it at once as an 

 albino leopard frog (Rana halecina). 



The upper side of the body of the 

 common leopard frog is green or brown 

 in color, in both cases, with a brilliant 

 bronze lustre ; the two folds along its 

 back are bronze colored, standing well 

 out from their darker base ; upon its 

 back are dark, round spots arranged in 

 two lines, while the upper parts of the 

 hind legs are ornamented with dark 

 bars. 



The specimen in question is a fully 

 developed male, about three years old. 

 The color of all parts of its body, seen 

 from above, is a brilliant cream ; while 



