34 



THE AQUARIUM. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE MICROSCOPICAL AQUARIUM. 



HE tank for microscopic objects should be square. 

 The round bell-glasses or globes prevent accu- 

 rate observation by distorting the objects. It 

 is better, too, to have both front and back of glass, and 

 the vessel, when once placed in a suitable position, should 

 not be shifted. The vessel should not, of course, be so 

 large as that used for fish, and the position adopted 

 should be a north or north-east window. A writer in 

 Scieiice Gossip, under the initials " E. D.," gives such 

 practical advice on this subject that we cannot forbear 

 quoting some of his remarks. He says : — 



" Anything approaching the idea to make it ' pretty,' 

 should be studiously avoided : nothing should be included 

 but with the object of use ; the more useful, the more 

 beautiful it will be ; two pieces of goodly-sized stone or 

 irregularly-shaped brick should be placed nearly touch- 

 ing the front glass ; these stones soon become covered 

 with organisms, and may be so adjusted as to be within 

 range of an ordinary magnifying lens. Two or three 

 plants (not more) of Vallisneria, or Chara, are to be planted 

 in one corner in well washed gravel, banked up with one 

 of the pieces of stone ; the other part of the floor of the 

 tank should be left bare, to facilitate the picking up, free 

 of sand or gravel, of anything that may appear. If a 



