Mollusks. 5367 



On the Maintenance of Molluscan Life in a very limited supply of 

 Water, subjected to the exclusion of all Atmospheric influence. 

 By the Rev. Alfred Merle Norman, B.A. 



It is now six years since Mr. Warington first announced his success 

 in adjusting the relation between animals and vegetables in a limited 

 quantity of water, so that health was preserved to all the inmates of 

 the small glass tank which was employed. Since that time we all 

 know the general use into which they have come, and the deserved 

 admiration in which they have been held, enabling us, as they do, to 

 have even in our drawing-rooms the most beautiful examples of marine 

 and fluviatile life : add to this, most of us know the valuable discoveries 

 that have been made and are making by their use, and the many 

 interesting facts relating to the habits and economy of Fish, Mol- 

 lusca, Crustacea, Radiata, &c, which have been brought to light. 

 A host of inquirers have thus sprung up, and, led on by Messrs. 

 Warington, Gosse, &c, are each contributing their iotas to the cause 

 of Science. 



Accident, I may say, has revealed to me a fact during the past year, 

 which is highly interesting from the connexion it may have with this 

 subject. Hitherto the inmates of our aquaria, as far as I am aware, 

 have been confined to those species w r hich are to be met with in this 

 country ; but the fact that I have discovered would almost lead one to 

 hope that we might, without difficulty, transport the beautiful shells of 

 Africa or the Pacific, and have the marine life of all climes fully 

 represented in the Zoological Gardens. Such an idea is, I confess, 

 building a mountain on a mole-hill — but to the facts. 



One day in the first week in October, last year, I started for a con- 

 chological walk from Oxford towards Woodeaton, having my water-net 

 and bottles in my pocket. At the foot of the hill on which Woodeaton 

 stands there runs a beautiful little stream of the purest and most limpid 

 water, and, having fished in this, T turned the contents of my net into 

 a small bottle filled with water from the brook, tightly corked and 

 pocketed it, and then walked home. The next day I left Oxford, and, 

 as I had no time to remove the animals from the shells, the bottle was 

 packed as it was, in a hat-box with all sorts of other things. 



I will now mention what the contents of this bottle were, not indeed 

 that I knew at the time of packing my hat-box, but as it will be more 

 convenient for the reader to know, I will let him into the secret, though 



