48 NATURE STUDY 



making and care of aquaria for the school-room is discussed 

 in the lesson, "School-room Aquaria," but the following brief 

 notes are inserted here because of their special bearing on the 

 rearing of aquatic insects. 



To construct and maintain an aquarium has the sounding of 

 something diflBcult and large to undertake: to put a layer of sand, 

 some water, and a few water plants and animals into a fruit jar 

 and let it, the aquarium, take care of itself is no such prodigious 

 undertaking. The fruit jar aquarium may be made an object of 

 lively interest and a great help in nature study work. 



Miss Mary Farrand Rogers, who has written an interesting 

 and informing account(*) of life in an aquarium, for the series of 

 teachers' leaflets prepared by the nature study bureau of Cornell 

 University, tells so well what a schoolroom aquarium should be 

 and how to contrive to have it what it should be, that my first 

 suggestion to you in regard to schoolroom aquaria is to get, if you 

 can, a copy of this leaflet. 



Aquaria are of two kinds, (i) running water aquaria, and 

 (2) quiet or stagnant water aquaria. The quiet water aquaria are 

 so much the simpler to care for and more likely to be possible in 

 the ordinary schoolroom that we may put aside any thought 

 of attempting the other sort. If, however, there is a tap of spring 

 or brook water in the schoolroom a running water aquarium can be 

 maintained. The water can be allowed to flow constantly from 

 the tap into the aquarium and out of it by means of a "constant 

 level siphon" (devised by Professor Comstock), which diiiersfrom 

 an ordinary siphon in being bent up at the outer end. The end 

 of the siphon within the aquarium should be covered with wire 

 gauze to prevent the escape of the insects or other aquatic animals. 



The quiet water aquaria may be permanent or temporary. 

 The temporary ones may be simply nothing more than a glass 



•Life in an Aquarium, by Mnry Farrand Rogers, being No. 11 (April 1898) of 

 Teachers' Leaflets on Nature Study, prepared by the college of Agriculture, Cornell Uni- 

 versity, Ithaca, N. Y. 



