AQUARIAN ANIMALS. 175 



CHAPTER XI. 



MAMMALIA, REPTILIA, AND FISHES OF PUBLIC 

 MARINE AQUARIA. 



THE enormous size of the largest tanks belonging 

 to our public aquaria, and the manner in which the 

 mechanism of aeration and circulation of the water 

 has been perfected, have rendered it possible to ex- 

 hibit living animals of all kinds whose lives are passed 

 amid aquatic conditions. Hence, such //^-breathing 

 animals as porpoises, grampuses, seals, sea-lions, alli- 

 gators, crocodiles, and turtles, may be now maintained 

 for a time, with almost as much ease as objects of a 

 smaller size. The chief difficulty seems to be, not 

 merely in maintaining these huge creatures in a healthy 

 condition, but in capturing and transferring them un- 

 injured to the tanks. As has already been stated, it 

 is usual to keep the captured animals in places ap- 

 pointed for the purpose, until they are more or less 

 acclimatised, before they are turned out for public 

 exhibition. This transitional stage seems to be neces- 

 sary in the cases of most animals. Within the next 

 few years our public aquaria will be enriched with 

 many other species of huge fresh-water and marine 

 animals, for one of the tanks at Brighton is almost 



