218 AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 
SUMMARY OF REQUISITES FOR SUCCESS WITH THE LABORATORY 
AQUARIUM. 
- 1. Use the right kind of jar, i. e., smaller one-pieced glass 
vessels for plants and larger ones for animals; shallow 
and wide aquaria for plants, deeper ones for animals. 
Good light. Diffuse daylight is generally best. Direct 
and even strong sunlight for algae grown in summer. 
Avoid access of dust and minimize evaporation. 
Avoid presence of mineral salts and alkalinity of water. 
Never change water nor add more than one-fifth of con- 
tents of the jar. 
Advantages of the “forcing” method should be realized. 
Therefore, contents of an aquarium should be kept sev 
eral months unless bacteria or oscillatoria or animals in- 
vade it. Give the spore stages a chance to appear. 
AN Remove all animals as much as possible from plant 
aquaria. 
Study the ecology of specimens in the field, and give the 
specimens in the laboratory jars as much as possible their 
native outdoor habitat, e. g., regarding light intensity, 
depth of water, kind of water, etc. 
9. Find a good collecting ground preferably pools, dry part 
of the year, in order to replenish the laboratory jars, and 
do intensive rather than extensive field work. 
10. MS perserverance and patience especially at the 
start. 
oO o I 
00 . A 
Our Birds in October and November. 
BROTHER ALPHONSUS, G8. C. 
The reason why the writer failed to see three species of 
birds on one day only in October can be accounted for in two of 
the instances. On the 16th he did not visit a certain piece of 
owland overgrown with brush, where he always found the 
Goldfinch, and on that day he did not see the bird elsewhere. 
T ong S see 
am e 
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