CHAPTER, IV. 
CONCERNING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 
PLANTS SELECTED EOR THE 
AQUARIUM. 
^N order that one about to establish an 
'Qjjr Aquarium may be able to form a tole- 
\| ably accurate idea of the plants, from 
Sff) among which he is about to select the 
^ ornaments of bis aquatic garden, it will 
|/be necessary to give some further ac- 
^ count of the most remarkable of those 
named in the lists contained in the last chapter. 
Of the plants growing in the water, which are 
the most important to an Aquarium, in conse¬ 
quence of their aerating qualities, the first on the 
list is the Great Water Plantain. Its botanical 
name, Alisma, signifies a dweller in the water. 
When finely grown, in a favourable situation, it is 
one of the most stately of our water plants, and is 
consequently too large for a very small Aquarium; 
hut it is remarkably handsome, and very suitable 
where there is sufficient room for its display. The 
Alisma natans is a swimming or rather floating water 
30 
