THE FEESH-WATER AQUAEIUM. 



53 



the last century. As the male and female flowers of this 

 plant grow from different roots, care must be taken to 

 secure both for propagation. They may be distinguished 

 without difficulty. The female flowers are borne on long, 

 spiral foot-stalks ; the male ones are on straight, short, 

 flower-stalks. The female flowers ascend by the assist- 

 ance of a coil and float on the surface of the water. The 

 male flowers, when matured, gallantly detach themselves 

 from the parent stalk, and follow their feminine relatives 

 to the surface. Here they expand, float among their fa- 

 vorites and impart to them the pollen with which they 

 are laden. The female plant then descends to the bottom 

 and the process of reproduction goes on agreeably to the 

 order of nature. The Tape Grass is also propagated by 

 offshoots. A lateral shoot, branching from the mother 

 plantj pushes forward until it discovers some suitable spot 

 in which it may strike root. Here it fixes itself at once, 

 and in its turn assumes all the characteristics of the pa- 

 rent plant, and devotes itself to the same functional per- 

 formances. This plant, and the one last mentioned, look 

 uncommonly well when grown together, and with a few 

 choice fish, and some fresh-water mollusca, will constitute 

 as picturesque an Aquarium, on a small scale, as a family 

 could desire. 



No. 12. Water Star Grass, grows in the slow streams 

 of New YoA and New Jersey. 



No. 13. Quillwort, is to be found at the bottom of 

 ponds and slow streams. 



