Notices of New Books. 4083 



" One prominent object that I had in view in coming to the coast, 

 was the prosecution of a cherished scheme for the conservation of 

 marine animals and plants in a living state. 



" For several years past 1 have been paying attention to our native 

 Rotifera, and in the course of this study had kept fresh water in glass 

 vases unchanged from year to year, yet perfectly pure and sweet, and 

 fit for the support of animal life, by means of the aquatic plants, such 

 as Vallisneria, Myriophyllum, Nitella and Chara (but particularly the 

 former two), which were growing in it. Not only did the Infusoria 

 and Rotifera breed and multiply in successive generations in these 

 unchanged vessels, but Entomostraca, Planarise, Naides, and other 

 Annelides, and Hydrae, continued their respective races ; and the 

 young of our river fishes were able to maintain life for some weeks in 

 an apparently healthy state, though (perhaps from causes unconnected 

 with the purity of the water) I was not able to preserve these long. 



•' The possibility of similar results being obtained with sea-water 

 had suggested itself to my mind, and the subject of growing the ma- 

 rine Algae had become a favourite musing, though my residence in 

 London precluded any opportunity of carrying out my project. My 

 notion was, that as plants in a healthy state are known to give out 

 oxygen under the stimulus of light, and to assimilate carbon, and ani- 

 mals, on the other hand, consume oxygen and throw off carbonic acid, 

 the balance between the two might be ascertained by experiment, and 

 thus the great circular course of Nature, the mutual dependence of 

 organic life, be imitated on a small scale. 



" My ulterior object in this speculation was two-fold. First, I 

 thought that the presence of the more delicate sea-weeds (the Rhodo- 

 sperms, or red families especially, many of which are among the most 

 elegant of plants in colour and form), growing in water of crystalline 

 clearness in a large glass vase, would be a desirable ornament in the 

 parlour or drawing-room ; and that the attractions of such an object 

 would be enhanced by the presence of the curious and often brilliant- 

 hued animals, such as the rarer shelled Mollusca, the graceful Nudi- 

 branchs, and the numerous species of sea Anemones, that are so seldom 

 seen by any one but the professed naturalist. 



" But more prominent still was the anticipation that by this plan 

 great facilities would be afforded for the study of marine animals, un- 

 der circumstances not widely diverse from those of Nature. If the 

 curious forms that stand on the threshold, so to speak, of animal life 

 can be kept in a healthy state, under our eye, in vessels where they 

 can be watched from clay to day without being disturbed ; and that 



