24 
INDIAN FRESH-WATER FISHES. 
are we sufficiently acquainted with its food and habits, 
to be able to account for the reason of its occurring 
in one stream rather than in another. 
There are are two institutions which are calculated 
to afford much assistance in this study. I mean 
museums and aquaria. The first to be of any real use 
should bo a public affair ; the second, even on a small 
scale, in a private house, is of great value. Some 
day perhaps every province, or even every district 
of India, may have its museum containing specimens 
of all objects of Natural History indigenous therein, 
well arranged and properly looked after. (Only on 
this condition are they of any use, otherwise they be- 
come mere curiosity shops.) It would be an immense 
boon to the collector to be able to deposit his speci- 
mens in the nearest museum, if he knew that they 
would be duly examined, and, if new or interesting, 
described, or forwarded to the British Museum as the 
case might require. This is perhaps too much to 
hope for just now. Meanwhile the aquarium as a 
means of study is available to all of us on a small 
scale. It is in itself a source of much interest, be- 
sides being ornamental ; it need not be a large or 
expensive affair— one or more glass globes, or even 
lamp shades, enable one to watch the habits of a 
great variety of the smaller species, which abound in 
every tank and pond. 
And very little trouble or attention is required, 
the main point being not to put too many fish into 
