ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



THE CLIMBING SEA MUSSEL 



Three of the positions that the mussel held ilurinK its 



ascent are shown 



a mud snail, and at the time of this writing is 

 still traveling without exertion on its part — but 

 has not yet reached its desired destination at 

 the top of the water.* The shells they generally 

 cling to are those of their own species, and 

 bunches of mussels may he seen almost any- 

 where along the shore attached to tin- rocks and 

 spiles and ends of wharves — one might almost 

 say. holding hands. 



The food of the sea mussel consists of micro- 

 scopic organisms and hits of floating matter 

 that drift to it. 



Until recent years mussels have not been con- 

 sidered palatable in this country, though they 

 have long been used extensively for food in Eu- 

 rope, and are cultivated in "parks" in France, 

 where stakes are driven in the mud and the in- 

 tervening spaces rilled in with wicker work for 

 their accommodation. Clinging together in 

 clusters in these enclosures, they are said to be 

 gathered like grapes from a trellis. 



lor twenty-four hours the mud snail remained in 

 one sp.it. an inch from the surface; but the mussel 

 did not alight. 



SALT WATER AQUARIA IN THE HOME 

 By Ida M. Mellen 



THE peculiar beauty and charm of animal 

 and plant life in the sea arouses in our 

 minds a natural craving to enjoy it close 

 at hand. This is comparatively an easy task for 

 residents of the coast, who may collect plants 

 and animals for themselves and procure plenty 

 of sea water; but for the inland aquarist it is 

 a matter requiring more delicate care and closer 

 concentration. 



Salt water, with the animals and plants, can 

 be shipped inland from the coast. Formulas 

 for the preparation of artificial sea water have 

 been devised, but we do not know of anyone 

 who has succeeded with them. 



That salts in water arc not subject to evapor- 

 ation, is illustrated by the eternal salinity of 

 the seas, whose evaporation is replenished by 

 water from the rivers that constantly flow into 

 them; and though they acquire some additional 

 salt from the rivers, their loss of that substance 

 is so small that the new salt acquired really adds 

 to their salinity. It is therefore quite practic- 

 able to compensate the loss through evapora- 

 tion in the salt water aquarium with fresh water 

 from the faucet once a week, and a watering 

 can is very good for the purpose. 



It is 75 years since the first salt water bal- 

 anced aquarium was established in England, 

 and many experimenters have been at work in 

 the field since that time ; but to secure a per- 

 fect balance of marine animals and plants, it 

 is still difficult to suggest an infallible rule. As 

 with fresh-water forms, the animals depend 

 largely upon the oxygen thrown off by the 

 plants, while the plants absorb I he carbonic .acid 

 gas exhaled by the animals. The aquaria hav- 

 ing capacities measured by the gallon are more 

 satisfactory than those holding only quarts. 

 There is small danger' from an excess of plants, 

 but too much animal life is certain to prove 

 fatal. 



All-glass aquaria are the Inst for salt water, 

 and are the only kind used at the New York 

 Aquarium for small marine balanced aquaria. 



.Marine collections of the happy family or- 

 der are successfully maintained at the Aquari- 

 um in eight-gallon jars, with two kinds of 

 plants and as many as eleven forms of animal 

 life. The plants arc the red alga (Soleria chor- 

 /lalix). sometimes attaching itself to rocks and 

 again living free at the bottom, and the green 

 sea-lettuce (Ulva latissima) buoyed with bits 

 of cork to cover two-thirds of the surface and 

 allowed to hana down ten inches from the top 



