8 THE HISTORY OF AQUARIA. 



cuttle-fish, and sturgeon were the principal food-fishes 

 of the masses ; whilst turbot, sole, and " John Dory " 

 had even then obtained, by their high price, the 

 aristocratic position of catering only for the stomachs 

 of the wealthy. 



The edible frog (Rana esculentd) is another animal 

 which has been specially cared for by those who 

 have learned to like it as an article of food. Tanks 

 or ponds, in which it can pass through its ordi- 

 nary life-history, and whence it can easily be fished 

 out for the table, still exist in France. Of course 

 we need not here do more than remark that the 

 edible frog is another species than that which is so 

 common in England ; although there is no reason 

 in the world why the latter should not be as dainty 

 an article of food, if there were only more of it. Pond 

 frogs were regarded as among their choicest morsels 

 by the ancient Gauls and Franks, in whose country 

 these amphibians have continued to be more or less 

 favourites ever since. Formerly they were served at 

 the best tables, dressed with a green sauce. 



Between the artificial contrivances for the preser- 

 vation of aquatic and other animals designed for the 

 table, and the modern aquaria in which they are kept 

 to administer to the growing love for knowledge, 

 there is as great a gulf fixed as there is between the 

 mind and the stomach. Very little knowledge indeed 

 has been handed down to us from the costly piscinae 

 of the ancient Romans, or the more homely fish- 



