AQUARIUM NOTES 



N. M. GRIER 



The Spotted Salamander Amblystoma punctatum Photograph from Life bj) Dr. R. W. Shufeldt 



Among the little used plants which 

 thrive in aquaria, especially if well an- 

 chored, are the native species of arrow- 

 head, Sagittaria (lakes and ponds), and 

 the somewhat rare water fernwort 

 Marsilia, having a four-leaf clover 

 aspect. The latter is best secured from 

 conservatories. The closely related Sal- 

 vinia, similarly obtained, rarely thrives 

 in the small aquarium, and gradually 

 dies out unless accorded warmth and 

 sunlight. Elodea or Anacharis, the com- 

 mon water weed, and a widely used plant 

 in aquaria, has been known to cause the 

 death of snails living in water in which 

 it grows, although in the writer's ex- 

 perience it is apparently harmless to 

 other forms of animal life. Lemna, 

 known as "Duckmeat," will thrive best 

 under fairly sunny conditions, and is 

 interesting in that it frequently bears on 

 its under surface the siliceous cases of 

 certain minute worms, which may often 

 be seen to emerge from their home and 

 seize animalcules. 



The larger species of Algae as a rule 

 will only flourish when so entangled with 



the stems of other plants that the fish 

 find it difficult to penetrate. Of this 

 class of plants, the use of two in aquaria, 

 the stoneworts Nitclla and Chara, should 

 be more generally known. These plants 

 consist of a stem-like body with leaf- 

 like divisions in whorls at regular inter- 

 vals, and have a decidedly rough feeling 

 when drawn through the hand. Al- 

 though they are found in streams con- 

 taining a good deal of li e, they grow 

 well upon a sandy bottom. Isoetes, a 

 botanical curiosity, found in lakes and 

 rivers, will live in the aquarium with a 

 gravel bottom, as well as the common 

 water-moss,, Fontinalis, found along 

 brooks. 



An animal little known to aquaria, and 

 which will at least exist for some time 

 therein, is Spongilla, the fresh water 

 sponge. It is, however, an aquatic deli- 

 cacy, and should be protected by massing 

 the plants around it. It is found in 

 clear running brooks in circular, con- 

 cave, slightly rough masses of a greenish 

 tinge attached to stones or water plants. 

 Certain forms of colonial Protozoa 



