26 rKESH-WATBE AQUAEIA. 



high or too low. A cabinet aquarium, if properly aiTanged 

 and cared for, is rather an ornament in a room. It will 

 impede hardly any light when placed at right angles to a 

 window. 



None but those who have possessed some such arrangement 

 as a cabinet aqtiarium can readily understand how much in- 

 terest and instruction it is able to afEord. Some change or 

 other is always taking place in the various aquaria, and thus 

 there is continually a fresh lesson to be learnt or a new wonder 

 whereat to be astonished. As nearly all the little tanks can 

 be made more or less seK-supporting, a very small amount of 

 trouble will be required in their management. If the shelves 

 are made to stand upon the floor of the room, and not upon 

 a table, a small cupboard or a drawer or two may be con- 

 trived beneath the lowest shelf, which will be very convenient 

 for holding siphons, nets, cans, and the like. 



An arrangement of a simpler kind than that just described 

 can be made by placing a piece of strong board lengthwise 

 across any large tank which has slate or wooden ends. Such 

 a board will hold several snaall aquaria. If it is of a fair length, 

 three small inverted propagating-glasses may be placed upon 

 it at equal distances apart, the middle glass being a little 

 larger than the other two, chiefly for the sake of appearance. 

 The glasses will stand quite firmly if the knob of each is 

 inserted through a hole made in the board. There may also 

 be room for other and smaller aquaria between the glasses. 

 Little oblong tanks might be used, and with advantage, instead 

 of the propagating-glasses. 



The vessels of the cabinet aquarium may be either rectangular 

 or round — ^the former shape, for several reasons, being the 

 more suitable; but whether they are square or round, there 

 should certainly be some uniformity among them. Propagating- 

 glasses of various sizes can always be used in the cabinet 

 aquarium by fixing them as just described. A great disad- 

 advantage of these glasses is that they so much distort the 

 objects which they contain; but if they are used it is 

 wise to have a few common stands at hand for them, which 

 will be convenient in case the glasses have occasionally to be 



