THE ZooLocist—APRIL, 1876. 4853 
Mr. Saville Kent's Lecture, at the Society of Arts, on “ The 
Aquarium: Construction and Management.” 
In my review of Mr. Lloyd’s ‘ Official Handbook to the Crystal 
Palace Aquarium’ (S. 8. 3661, 3701, 3741), I think I have incor- 
porated and—by the accident of a heliacal rising—forestalled all the 
information to be derived from Mr. Kent’s lecture just delivered at 
the Society of Arts—always carefully excepting his notes on white- 
bait, herring and lobsters, which are valuable, and in great measure 
new. Mr. Kent represents his success as complete in proving 
whitebait to be the young of the herring, a fact previously asserted 
by Dr. Giinther, from an examination and comparison of the struc- 
ture of these two supposed distinct species of fish: he also states 
that he reared a “remarkably large shoal” of that invaluable crus- 
tacean, the lobster, hatched out from a fine hen in the summer of 
1874—1two achievements of the highest scientific interest as well 
as commercial importance, of which more hereafter. 
The lecture,—a copy of which I have received from Mr. Kent,— 
by contrasting two systems of management, as Mr. Kent has 
done, conveys an erroneous impression, which I must attempt to 
remove: he speaks of one in action at Brighton as the “ aérating 
system,” and one in action at the Crystal Palace as the “cir- 
culating system.” The facts of the case may be stated thus:— 
At Brighton the so-called “aération” is effected “by passing 
through the tanks a stream of atmospheric air discharged through 
pipes into the bottom of the water,” and rising in large bubbles 
to the surface. The Crystal Palace Aquarium “effects the 
- oxygenation of the water by its actual circulation from place 
to place, thus presenting fresh oxygen-absorbing surfaces to the 
atmosphere.” Now the fact is that the Crystal Palace Aquarium 
and all similar ones are not constructed on the circulating 
system only, but on the aérating system also, the Crystal Palace 
Aquarium possessing an infinitely more complete and efficient 
mode of aération than the Brighton. The term “ oxygenation” 
is in perpetual use by the managers of aquariums and the writers 
thereanent, without their appearing to make much attempt to 
explain or even to understand its meaning. 
In the Crystal Palace, where every tank is exposed to view, we 
SECOND SERIES—VOL. XI. R 
