OB, THE HOME-CULTURE OF FRESH-WATER PLANTS. 



Aquarium at the Zoological Gardens there are 

 several Tench, which appear to enjoy themselves as 

 well as in their native ponds. They generally lie 

 near the bottom, as though in a dreamy and pleasing 

 abstraction, but if too closely watched glide myste- 

 riously away and disappear, taking advantage of 

 some deep shadow, or projecting stone, or tuft of 

 Valisneria. Like the Carp family, the Tench is 

 very tenacious of life. Daniel, in his "Rural 

 Sports," mentions a curious example of this tenacity 

 under very peculiar circumstances. A pond had 

 been filled up for many years, when it became 

 necessary to clear away the ground below the depth 

 of the former pond. On the last portions being re- 

 moved, it was found that the mud at the bottom had 

 never thoroughly dried, and there were a few holes 

 imperfectly filled by the rubbish, which still con- 

 tained a small quantity of water. In these cavi- 

 ties several Tench of large size were found in per- 

 fect health. Their habit of hybernating in the mud 

 having made this long interment only appear, it 

 would seem, like a somewhat unusually long winter. 

 Under the roots of a buried tree a larger hole than 

 the rest contained rather more water, and in this 

 an immense Tench was found, which had grown to 

 the form of the hollow which had so long been his 



