THE AQUAEIUM:. 351) 



tank of sea- water co^ts money, especially when it has to be carried 

 far inland. 



As to the marine animals to be placed in the aquarium, the va- 

 rieties to select from are so great, that the choice must be left to 

 yourselves. You ought, however, to have the pretty little Goby, a 

 few small flat fish, the Pipe fish, and the Sea- Stickleback. But ot 

 all things you must get a few Hermit-crabs and Spider-crabs ; also 

 Shrimps and Prawns, who make themselves quite at home in the 

 tank; and, if you wish to see your watery subjects clearly, do not 

 forget the Periwinkles, as they eat off the green matter that adheres 

 to the glass and prevents you from seeing what is going on inside. 

 The most interesting objects you procure will be the Sea Anemones, 

 which at one time (when closed) look like dirty mushrooms, and at 

 another (when they open) like a basket filled with gorgeous jewels. 

 But above all things, don't forget the Sea Mouse, for though he is so 

 fond of burying himself in the sand and gravel at the bottom of the 

 aquarium, yet, when he does show himself, and you get him fairly 

 between your eve and the sunlight, you'll be almost startled by the 

 rich array of colours he displays. The plumage of the humming- 

 bird is not so gaudy as the edging of hairs which rise along the body 

 of this little beauty. To paint the colours would be impossible, as 

 they change every time these ridgy bristles are moved purple and 

 gold, crimson and green, flashes of amber, and shootings as of silver 

 threads, darting and flashing to and fro, until the eye at last fairly 

 aches through gazing at so much splendour. The sea mouse is very 

 fond of hiding himself, if not in the sand and gravel, under the bits 

 of rock, or among the seaweeds ; but having once found him, you 

 can generally depend upon his being "at home," or somewhere about 

 the same spot, for a whole week to come. A keen look-out must be 

 kept for the remains of the little animals that die in the aquarium, 

 and they must be removed at once, or the whole stock of fishes, or 

 whatever they may be, will speedily perish as, in spite of seaweeds, 

 the water will become too foul for them to live in it ; and to neglect 

 for a single day the removal of what is dead may destroy every living 

 thing in the aquarium. 



Hitherto we have written about what can only be accomplished 

 with great care and anxiety, and at considerable expense; we will 

 now turn our reader's attention to an aquarium that costs next to 

 nothing, and which any boy may stock out of the first stream he 

 comes to. Get a glass globe, which costs but some eighteenpence 

 or two shillings, even for a very large one ; fill it with fresh water, 

 and put in it any of the small water weeds which you see growing 

 in the water ; you can scarcely do wrong, for whatever plants you 

 find in it will throw out a sufficient supply of oxygen to keep your 

 fishes alive; and, unlike a marine aquarium, they may safely be 

 plunged into the globe at once whether they be fresh- water spiders, 

 shell fish, newts, or fishes without even so much preparation as 

 saying "by your leave." Little eels look very pretty in a fresh- 

 water aquarium, and nothing can exceed the beauty and grace of 

 their motions. Minnows, bleak, small carp, gudgeons, loach, will 



