Sept. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



211 



WINDOW GAEDENS AND AaUARIA. 



Bahnacles and Corals. — Mr. P. H. Gosse, at 

 page 2S2 of his new book, " A Year at the Shore," 

 says that about one specimen in every six. of the 

 Cup-coral {Caryophjllua Qidctliii) carries a Coral- 

 baruacle [Fyrcjoma Aiiglicum) affixed to it as a 

 parasite. I, however, have not met with it so numer- 

 ously, and, indeed, not one of the Caryophyllecp. f35 

 in number) livmg in the Hambm-g aquarium, has 

 Pijrgoma. I have often looked for them but in vain; 

 and yet the corals came from Torquay and from 

 Ilfracombe. The tank, holding 30 gallons of sea- 

 water, which contains these 35 corals, also contains 

 about an equal number, or say 40, of the other com- 

 monly met with coral — the Royal Star-coral (I do 

 not like these English names, and I much prefer the 

 Latin Balanophyllea regici), and the whole of them 

 are cemented firmly by their stony bases to the 

 rockvv'ork, of dark colour, with which the tank is 

 lined. Some are fixed to perpendicular or to over- 

 hanging surfaces, as found in nature, and others are 

 fastened as they are not found in nature, with their 

 faces looking upwards horizontally or obliquely, but, 

 in every instance, the aspect of this coral tank, as 

 seen through its glass front, is very charming ; and 

 towards evening, v/hen the animals become much 

 expanded, they form a brilliantly-coloured crowd of 

 animals, so thickly studded as to touch each other, 

 (like an assemblage of flowers in a garden,) where 

 they are thickest together. They reach their greatest 

 degree of expansion and beauty late at night, when 

 I sometimes illuminate "the tank by means of a 

 powerful gas Argand burner and conical shade, placed 

 over the water. They are regularly fed with oyster 

 and mussel, given to each separately in little morsels, 

 and on this diet they thrive wonderfully. A stream 

 of sea water runs through the tank day and night, 

 and the condition of the whole is so excellent, that 

 numerous other animals are constantly making their 

 spontaneous appearance in the same case, — such for 

 example, as Serpiila, Sahellce, Ascidicms, both simple 

 and compound ; spjonges, and various other interesting 

 things. — W. Alford Lloyd, Hamburg. 



Eppects oe Lightning on Eisii in an Aquarium. 

 — On Friday, July 7th, 1865, at 3 p.m., a flash of 

 lightning did much damage to a house in Marien- 

 strasse, St. Pauii, in the suburbs of Hamburg. 

 About 200 feet away from the house in question, a 

 friend of mine, Mr. C. C. H. Mrdler, had in his 

 garden, in a shady spot, and in the open air, a large 

 fresh-water Aquarium, containing forty-three fish 

 consisting of trench, carp, dace, roach, gold-fish, eels, 

 loach of two species, and others, and at the moment 

 of the fl.ash of lightning, every one of these fish 

 became suspended perpendicularly downwards in the 

 water, with their tails at the surface, feebly and 



vainly trying to swim towards the bottom of the 

 tank, with all their fins strangely attenuated and as 

 transparent as fine tissue-paper, and densely covered 

 on both sides with myriads of fine air-bubbles. Their 

 heads and bodies were not so covered. In less than 

 half an hour forty-one were dead, strongly curved, 

 almost in the form of semi-circles, and ah'cady fast 

 decomposing, but two gradually recovered by being 

 placed in running water. It is well known that 

 when fish become sick and die under ordinary ck- 

 cumstances, they turn belly upwards horizontally, 

 instead of hanging nose downwards, as in this case. 

 The manner in which the eels were almost jerked out 

 of their hiding-places in the sand at the bottom of 

 the tank, was very remarkable. None of the animals 

 in the aquarium in the Zoological Gardens, about a 

 mile off, were affected in any way. — W. Alford Lloyd, 

 Hamburg. 



Eresh-watee, Aquaria. — Having had some little 

 experience in the management of fresh-water aqua- 

 ria, I would advise " E. 0." to cover the bottom of 

 his aquaria with well-washed small stones, which 

 may be picked up on any gravel walk. Eor a long 

 time I had nothing at the bottom of mine, but 

 simply built up my rock-work of stones cemented 

 together, and clinker. A layer of small stones, how- 

 ever, about an inch deep, greatly improves the ap- 

 pearance ; but I never used gravel or sand of any 

 kind. The weeds I used to plant in small chemical 

 crucibles, which are easily concealed in the cavities 

 of the rock-work. I found the same difficulty as 

 your correspondent in procuring the small red worms, 

 so I used now and then to put iu a little finely- 

 shredded lean raw beef ; but I fiiinly believe that it 

 it is better not to feed the fish at all when once you 

 have got the proper balance between the animal and 

 vegetable inmates. In my aquarium, I kept most 

 successfully for nearly three years, a gold-fish, roach, 

 a tench, minnows, young dace, and newts. I ought 

 to mention that I used to have some sprigs of Cana- 

 dian water-weed floating on the top, both to keep 

 the water cool and shady and to afford a resting- 

 place for the newts. Never having used the pow- 

 dered charcoal, I cannot form an opinion of its 

 merits.—^. /. N. M. 



Aeration op Aquaria. — I have seen several con- 

 tributions lately, mentioning the difficidties which 

 attend the production of a movement in the water 

 in aquaria, and am sm'prised that no one advocates 

 a small fountain. I have used one in my aquarium, 

 for the past three years, with perfect success, and 

 have never had to change the water, except when 1 

 clean it out each spring ; but I do not think even 

 that is absolutely necessary. The water always 

 keeps clear and sparkling, and the fountain has a 

 very pretty appearance. My jet usually passes about 

 half a gallon to one gallon per hour, and the waste 

 water is used again if clear.— /F. E. S. Willes. 



p2 



