CHAPTER X. 



ANIMAL LIFE IN THE MARINE AQUARIUM. 



THE PLANT-ANIMALS, OR ZOOPHYTES ; THE MOLLUSCA, ANNE- 

 ' - - LIDES, ETC., ETC. 



/-^h^HE Marine Aquarium now supplied with appro- 

 priate vegetation, and fitted at length for that 

 more active organization of existence which we 

 term animal life, our next duty is to tenant it with 

 creatures to whose good character, suitable habits, and 

 prepossessing wardrobe we can bear honest testimony. 



We might proceed at once to introduce our select 

 coUrk of mollusca, Crustacea, or even fish, but, in the 

 natural gradation of being, the wonderful zoojphytes, which, 

 to all appearance, are ocean flowers, and yet are really 

 animals, endowed with mouth and stomach, and the means 

 of locomotion, should take precedence in this connection. 



Zoophytes. — The Actiniae, or Sea Anemones, may 

 safely be pronounced the most gorgeous, as well as the 

 most extraordinary of the zoophytes. They are all 

 entitled to the character of beautiful, but the colors of 

 the actiniae are superb beyond ordinary realization. With 



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