CHAPTER II 
TANKS FOR MARINE AQUARIA 
I see the shipwrecked mariners, a bold Phoenician band, 
Gathered around their sea-weed fire, upon the ocean strand 
And mark the wonder and amaze their dusky features wore, 
When the first glass before them lay upon the sandy shores. 
Elizabeth Prideaux, 
A N aquarium must be constructed with a view to the particular purpose 
it is intended to serve. As remarked in the general observations on 
first principles, one and the same form of vessel will not answer equally well 
for marine and fresh-water collections. Marine creatures are not so easily 
kept as river fishes, and the dimensions and forms of tanks are matters of 
the very first importance. For instance, we may have river tanks of any depth 
without fear of losses, because the supply of oxygen can be obtained more 
readily and more abundantly ; and the tanks will bear more light than would 
be safe for marine vessels. Besides this, the inhabitants of river tanks are 
possessed of higher powers of locomotion, and can travel where they please 
within the limits of the vessel; but a sea-anemone, or a star-fish for example, 
will be likely to travel to the bottom, and die there, for want of the life-sustaining 
element. Therefore it is important that whatever are the dimensions or forms 
of marine tanks, they must be shallow; and the object sought in determining 
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