aquatic JLitt 



47 



er's great surprise, the following morn- 

 ing, there were two holes bored through 

 the netting and both animals were in the 

 shallow water above it. 



Replaced by the removal of the net, 

 they soon became quiet and resumed 

 their ordinary contented daylight life. 

 Toward evening, two films of netting 

 were stretched across the jar. But the 

 next morning both animals had again 

 penetrated the impediment and reached 

 the surface. At the third trial, three lay- 

 ers of mosquito netting spanned the 

 opening of the jar. It seemed utterly 

 impossible that a creature so delicate as 

 were these tiny larvae could ever press 

 aside the strands of this triple net and 

 reach the surface. And was it really 

 necessary that they do so ? Would they 

 not finally make a virtue of necessity and 

 remain content with the conditions of 

 respiration which their balanced aquar- 

 ium furnished them beneath the surface? 

 But no. The third morning, one animal 

 had penetrated the triple net ; while its 

 companion had failed to do so, and was 

 dead at the bottom of the jar. The con- 

 ditions in the jar looked quite normal 

 meanwhile. The vegetable growth was 

 healthy as ever. 



In this instance it is plain that the 

 respiratory conditions furnished by a 

 balanced aquarium during the day and 

 during the night were markedly dissim- 

 ilar. The writer has never made further 

 experiments on the subject. He is in- 

 deed not an aquarist in the ordinary sense 

 of the term, having little to do with fish, 

 or with the larger aquatic animals. But 

 in year-long work with minute forms of 

 animal life, his attention has repeatedly 

 been called to the fact that the balanced 

 aquarium is in no wise so valuable a 

 means of promoting life as is ordinarily 

 supposed. Many minor forms of life 

 live longer, grow and multiply faster, 



withstand changes of temperature bet- 

 ter, when reared in aquaria without 

 plants rather than with. Definite paral- 

 lel experiments have shown this to be 

 the case again and again. 



Undoubtedly this is not true of fish 

 and typical aquarium animals. It would 

 be absurd for the writer to deem that all 

 the practical aquarists in the world were 

 wrong in their view of the matter. But 

 can we not have more and better knowl- 

 edge than that which is embodied in the 

 mere dogma as it is usually advanced? 



It seems to the writer that it would 

 be very interesting if some readers of 

 Aquatic Life, who have splendid aquaria 

 at their disposal, would make careful ob- 

 servations of the conduct of animals, fish 

 and otherwise, after periods of light and 

 darkness ; after a long stretch of sun- 

 light, for instance, blanket an aquarium 

 for twelve hours and note by some care- 

 ful means the conduct of its inmates. 

 The writer at least would feel his knowl- 

 edge of animal life greatly extended by 

 the results of such careful investigation, 



Venus's Fly Trap 



Venus's Fly Trap is a bit of "bog life" 

 for the conservatory that never fails to 

 arouse interest ; even those who squint 

 at your fishes and ask "what good are 

 they" will be impressed. 



The plant can be briefly described as a 

 rosette of leaves, the latter on broadly 

 winged stems. From the centre of the 

 rosette, at the proper season, usually 

 April and May in its native haunts, 

 springs the tall flower stalk, with its ter- 

 minal cluster of eight to ten white blos- 

 soms. But the flower is the least inter- 

 esting feature. The leaves catch in- 

 sects! Sharp, rigid projections, like 

 diminutive spikes, stand out from the 

 leaf-margins, and on the surface are 



