258 
Rustic Adornments. 
a history of the rival pretension and diverse results of the artificial and 
natural systems of management. The artificial system is, perhaps, no system 
at all, because the practitioner seeks merely to gratify his fancy in forming 
an assemblage of aquatic plants and animals; the tanks are elaborately 
decorated with fountains, grottoes, and banners of vegetation, and stocked 
with crowds of fish. 
Under some circumstances the artificial system answers admirably; in 
others it is a failure from the first, and every repetition of the experiment 
ends in the same disappointment. For all show purposes the artificial 
system is invaluable. We have often exhibited tanks at soirees, 
conversaziones, etc., and they have always been greatly admired; 
but so thoroughly artificial have been the arrangements, that we have 
sometimes taken up from the garden tufts of Holcus saccharatus , Arundo 
donax, and other large plants of graceful habit, and having washed the 
earth from their roots, have planted (/.<?. fixed) them in good positions, 
pro tem ., for crowds of gold-fishes, minnows, bleak, etc., to gambol amongst. 
We remember some years ago inspecting some tanks which were the most 
satisfactory exemplifications of artificial management we had ever seen. A 
very elegant room was appropriated to a series of vessels, in which was kept up 
a constant and copious run of water, the stream passing from tank to tank, the 
tanks being in a succession of levels, so that from one end of the room all were 
visible in an ascending series, which produced an agreeable tout ensembl 
and at the same time made one source of water supply sufficient for the 
whole. This was a strictly artificial arrangement, but it was perfectly suc¬ 
cessful. The tanks were all well stocked with fishes, reptiles, insects, &c., 
classified according to their habits and proclivities, and so grouped that 
when viewed collectively, the scene was beautiful in the extreme. One 
more instance of artificial management for show purposes will, perhaps, suffice. 
When lecturing on aquaria some years ago, we had an accident, and spoiled 
nearly all the sea-water that had been secured for the display. But 
we were not to be beaten by trifles. Enough sea-water was left to fill a 
few large shallow glass pans; into these we transferred the anemones, 
star-fishes, &c., and gave just enough water to cover them, and in the 
show tanks we grouped the large handsome specimens of algae that had been 
collected for the purpose, so as, with serpulae shells, rocks, &c., &c., to make 
handsome groups, and filled those tanks with rain water. That was a perfectly 
successful undertaking ; the tanks looked beautiful by gaslight, with their 
