XXI.-THE AQUA-VIVARIUM AS AN AID TO BIOLOGICAL RE- 

 SEARCH. 



Bv William P. Seal. 



The somewhat obsolete term " aqua-vivarium " is used in this article 

 because it expresses shades of meaning not covered by any other word 

 or term known to the writer. It is comprehensive, describing the estab- 

 lishment of methods, approximating to natural conditions, for the study 

 of the varied forms of life which wholly or in part inhabit the waters. 

 The word " aquarium " is properly restricted to a harmonious adjust- 

 ment of the relations between animal and vegetable life wholly aquatic, 

 while the term '' aqua-vivarium" applies to this and also to receptacles 

 arranged as homes for amphibious animals. 



While rapid advance has been made in the methods of the study of life, 

 while biological laboratories splendidly equipi^ed with scientific appli- 

 ances are rapidly becoming prominent features of our leading universities, 

 but little attention has been paid to the establishment of means whereby 

 the life histories of the lower forms of life may be studied in continuity. 

 Apart from the embryological researches of the U. S. Fish Gommissiou, 

 through its embryologist, Mr. John A. Eyder, which are confined prin- 

 cipally to a study of food- fishes 5 and the i)rivate biological laboratories 

 of Professors Agassiz and Brooks, on the Atlantic coast, there seems to 

 be no effort in this direction. The desirability of the establishment of 

 practical propagating adjuncts to biological laboratories is universally 

 acknowledged. No doubt the history of the great public aquariums of 

 Europe, with their enormous expenditure of money and manifest lack 

 of adequate scientific results, has much to do with the general apathy 

 on this subject. It is not, however, by the expenditure of large sums 

 of money that the ideal adjunct to the biological laboratory will be 

 established. In fact, with the expensive and highly artificial methods 

 in vogue better results than have been attained are not to be expected. 



It is the desire of the writer to show how, at comparatively small 

 expense, conditions which closelj* approximate those of nature, and af- 

 ford the most gratifying results, may be established, under which con- 

 ditions the lower forms of life will live contentedly, generate, and al 

 ways be accessible to the investigator. 



The grand requisite is that animals shall be furnished with places 

 suited to their various requirements — light, temperature, and food be- 

 [1] 965 



