90 



FEESH-WATER AQUARIA. 



of the sap in tteir stems may he seen under a good micro- 

 scope. 



Wniow Moss {Fontinalis antipyretica) (Fig. 74) is found 



growing on stones, and alto- 

 getter submerged in rapid 

 streams and rivers. It can be 

 easily seen through the clear 

 water waving up and down 

 vm.der the action of the cur- 

 rent. The plant itself is of 

 a dark green colour, but its 

 new shoots or tenninal buds 

 are light green. It is a 

 beautiful and hardy plant, 

 and very useful in the tank. 

 It is also of the greatest 

 utility to the aquariimi-keeper, 

 for its tangled masses are full 

 of numerous kinds of animal 

 life. A small and ■ suitable- 

 shaped stone covered with a 

 short growth of the Fonti- 

 nalis should be placed in the 

 aquarium. 



The Crystalworts {Bdccia 

 fluitans (Fig. 75) and Riccia 

 natans (Fig. 76) are also very 

 useful little plants in an 

 aquarium. They are some- 

 times found growing upon 

 the surface of still water 

 amongst duckweeds. Riccia 

 fluitans is about lin. long, and 

 light green. Its leaves or 

 fronds are repeatedly forked, 

 each segment having at the 

 end a small notch. Like the Greater Duckweed, it has several 

 rootlets or fibres growing from beneath and hanging down in the 



Fig. 73. Nitella teanslucens. 



