4918 THE ZooLocist—May, 1876. 
aquarium, the goodness of which a naturalist, if he be true to his 
cause, will only regard, and for such excellence and for the 
animals it contains, he will alone care. He will, if he be genuine 
and zealous, regard the creatures he has to keep, not as unfortunate 
prisoners for whom it is policy to do as little as possible for 
their comfort, but as friends and guests, for whom he cannot do 
too much. Therefore, the only limits to the dimensions of aquarium 
reservoirs are considerations of cost and space. But long experience 
points out that for all general purposes the proportion of formula 
No. 6 is an excellent one as a minimum, and to gain this, or better, 
a much larger proportion, as even ten or twenty to one, as being, 
in the end, an excellent investment of capital, a right-minded 
naturalist will do much, even to the extent of recommending the 
sacrificing of the features of building which are not constructurally 
necessary, but merely decorative. The slight enrichment of sur- 
faces of necessarily constructive parts is all that a well-educated 
man will aim at. He cares only for the decoration of construction, 
and is content to leave the construction of decoration to the 
ignorant and vulgar. 
Curious Hare.—Yesterday, a little to the north of York, I saw a funny 
hare. Its body appeared to be white; but the fur of the head was the 
natural brown colour.—J. H. Gurney, jun. ; Darlington, March 25, 1876. 
Are White Cats with Blue Eyes Deaf!—Many persons are under the 
impression that white cats with blue eyes are deaf; it can by no means, 
however, be deemed to be so commonly the case as to be an evidence of 
much consequence in building a theory upon. A New Zealand corre- 
spondent sends us some curious facts bearing on the point. ‘“ At Taranaki, 
N.Z.,” he says, “I saw a white cat with blue eyes which was not at all 
deaf, and a good many of its kittens were white and had light blue eyes. 
As many of these had perfect hearing as were afflicted with deafness. This 
cat had a grown-up kitten perfectly black, which had sometimes also white 
young ones with blue eyes; it showed, as did the old cat, a singular 
partiality for them. On one occasion it happened that the old white cat 
and her black daughter had litters at the same time; amongst them there 
was only one white kitten with blue eyes—the black cat’s. The two fought 
fiercely for possession of the coveted beauty, and the old cat frequently took 
it away and placed it amongst her own. One morning the unfortunate 
object of quarrel was found divided, by the recommendation of some feline 
Solomon, and each cat quite contentedly in possession of half. Both of 
