AQUARIUM SOCIETIES 



AQUARIUM SOCIETIES 



Europeans apparently interest themselves more in the study of Natural 

 History than Americans. The middle and more educated classes devote 

 much of their leisure to pursuits which take them far afield for healthful 

 exercise, agreeable diversion from the cares of business and every day ex- 

 istence, and pleasant mental occupation. This particularly applies to the 

 Germans, their elementary schools devoting considerable attention to sub- 

 jects which foster in the minds of the children a desire for information and 

 research. The beginning of the pursuit may be some chance animal or 

 plant noticed during a ramble and taken to the home, there to aw^aken a 

 desire for further information of its habits. This interest then grows and 

 often culminates in the establishment of a household collection of animals 

 and plants, sometimes far in advance of what would satisfy the more 

 practical-minded citizen of the United States. 



The outcome of this desire for a glimpse of nature in the household 

 is a very large number of popular societies devoted to various branches 

 of nature study, among them many Aquarium Societies. Every larger 

 city of Germany has one or more of these of which the best-known are: 



Verband der Aquarien und Terrarien Freiinde, Berlin. 



Verein fiir Aquarienfreiinde, Berlin. 



Triton, Berlin. 



Elodea, Berlin-Moabit. 



Nymphae alba, Berlin. 



Lotus, Vienna. 



Humboldt, Hamburg. 



Salvinia, Hamburg. 



Nymphaea, Leipzig. 



Wasserrose, Dresden. 



Isis, Munich. 



Sagittaria, Kceln. 



Hottonia, Darmstadt. 



Ulva, Kiel. 



Heros, Niirnberg. 



Tausendblatt, Plauen i. V. 



Vallisneria, Magdeburg. 



Nerthus, Braunschweig. 



Brehm, Gelsenkirchen. 



Aquaria, Zwickau. 



Verein fur Volkstiimliche Naturkunde, Stettin. 



Verein fiir Aquarien und Terrarienkunde, Dortmund, and others. 



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