CLASS V. POLYPI: AQUARIA. 



643 



ber of tentacles. Some of the species attain a considerable size. The Corymorpha nutans attains 

 a length of four inches and a half. When placed iu the water it has the appearance of a beauti- 

 ful flower, its general color being pink. 



THE FOUNTAIN AQUAEIDM. 



Aquaria. — We can hardly dismiss this Division of the Animal Kingdom without noticing a 

 recent device, designed to bring into the house and home some of the most interesting species of 

 animals which inhabit the waters, so that we may see them and study their habits, and thus 

 uuveil the mysteries of the deep; nay, make them the instruments of our daily and familiar 

 amusements. This is the Aquarium, consisting of a glass tank or fountain, usually of an oblong 

 shape, Avith straight sides, and of larger or smaller size, but yet of sufficient dimensions to admit 

 of a floor of sand and stones, with a few water-plants, so that fishes of various kinds may freely 

 move in the water above and around these objects. It is, in fact, a miniature of the water-home 

 of the fishes; it is imitated from nature, though of such form as to be an ornament even to the 

 parlor. Every one has seen the glass globe and the gold-fish uneasily and restlessly turning and 

 winding within ; this is a kind of aquarium, but its tenants are iu an artificial and unhappy 

 condition; the water becomes impure and needs frequent changing; the sides of the globe by 

 their flexure, constantly enlarge and contract and distort the images of the moving objects of 

 our attention. The true aquarium places, not solitary fishes in a barren and helpless isolation, 

 but various kinds of sea animals in a natural companionship, and among objects with which 

 nature associates them. 



For this invention we are mainly indebted to Mr. Robert Warrington of England, who began 

 his experiments there about the year 1850. Mr. Gosse, the English naturalist, took up the sub- 

 ject, and has largely contrilmtcd to the acquisition and diff'usion of the practical knowledge 

 requisite to the successful management of aquaria. In 1858, an aquarium on a large scale 



