THE TANK. 



29 



brought from the Eiver Amazon, and well known at the 

 present time as the Victoria Regia, refused to flower under 

 his care in the ele-gant tank he had prepared for it. It 

 was provokingly obstinate. Suspecting, at length, that 

 the want of motion in the water might have something to 

 do with its contumacy, he arranged a little paddle-wheel 

 in such a manner that a mimic stream should roll over it, 

 and thus, in its fall into the tank, continually agitate its 

 contents. The ruse was successful. The lily imagined 

 itself once more at home, and being perfectly at its ease, 

 expanded its giant flowers without further reluctance or 

 solicitation. But these, of course, are only luxurious ac- 

 cessories to the Aquarium, which it may be as well to 

 note, by way of appropriate information or entertainment. 

 We do not expect the reader of this simple treatise, or 

 the mere amateur in the matter of which it treats, to 

 undertake such expensive or erudite experiments. 



