33 
fined. Some of these ponds would also be devoted to 
the exhibition of the Liliacese and other plants, which, 
although originally truly terrestrial and flowering plants, 
have become more or less modified and fitted for aquatic 
life. The huge leaves and flowers of the Victoria regia, 
and the lovely color of many of these annuals floating upon 
the glassy surface of the water and framed in a shore 
growth of rushes and grasses, would form pictures of rare 
beauty and attractiveness. 
4. Insects, although as a whole purely terrestrial and 
aerial, contain a number of groups that pass either a por- 
tion or the whole of their lives in water. An Insectary 
would therefore be established, furnished with aquaria, 
placed in the midst of suitable plants, and surrounded by 
ample cages of netting for the confinement and display of 
the adults after the}^ have passed through their transfor- 
mations and have begun to fly. This part of the exhibit 
could be made exceedingly instructive by means of a 
printed guide explaining the transformations of the insects 
shown in the aquaria and cages. 
5. The fauna of our own fresh waters is apt to strike 
one at 'first as uninteresting : but it contains sponges, espe- 
cially interesting to the public on account of their effect on 
the water-supply ; many microscopical plants that can be 
cultivated in masses so as to be seen by the unassisted eye ; 
large bryozoa, such as Pectinatella, growing in heads like a 
brain-coral ; bivalves and snails of respectable size ; several 
interesting species of batrachians, and many fishes of re- 
markable structure and habits. We would therefore 
bring together a series of aquaria exhibiting the animals 
of the fauna of New England and eastern Canada, and also 
keep in view the idea of explaining their more obvious 
relations to the water-supply of our cities. The fauna of 
the inland waters of the western and southern parts of 
