68 THE AQUA VIVARIUM. 



" History of British Star-fishes" in hand. Those 

 who will not be charmed with both book and 

 fishes had better give up the pursuit of natural 

 history. 



We present here the picture 

 of a beautiful orange-red little 

 fellow, who has flourished well 

 in Regent's Park, and is called 

 the GIBBOUS EAILET (Aster las 

 gibbosa). Fig. 31. 



We must add one word in 

 favour of Jelly-fishes (Aca- 

 lephce). These fragile, but 

 beautiful creatures, consist FIG. 31. 



principally of water. They, 



nevertheless, possess a varied and complicated 

 structure. To the student of the microscope they 

 afford unbounded facilities for study, on account 

 of their transparency. They may be caught by 

 means of a muslin net, which, carried along by a 

 boat, or attached to the end of a rod on the banks 

 of a tidal estuary, will secure, on most parts of our 

 coast, great numbers. These, too, should be studied 

 in the work of Edward Forbes, whose pen and 

 pencil illustrated so wide a range of our native 

 natural history. 



The last group of creatures we shall mention 

 before closing are the Sea-anemones the Actiniae. 

 These are the glories of the marine Aqua vivarium 

 the sea-flowers that have been grown in marine 

 caves in the Zoological Gardens, for the special 

 behest of those Londoners who never see them at 

 the sea-side. To write all that might be said about 

 them would be to write a larger book than this. 

 Their beauties have been celebrated by Mr. Gosse, 

 Dr. Badham, and Mrs. S. C. Hall, in their writings, 

 and I can only confirm their remarks. If you 



