THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 175 
methods of getting rid of them. Poisoning or blowing up with 
carbon bisulphide or other substances, is very little use, as the 
nests are soon renovated and recolonised from other nests which 
are-always in communication. I have frequently poisoned nests 
with carbon bisulphide or with potassium cyanide, but in a few 
days the ants from the associated nests would be busy dragging 
vut their dead comrades and reorganising the nest. By persis- 
tent breaking up of the nest with a mattock, the ants ean be 
caused to desert it altogether. Another simple and efficient plan 
is to cover the nest with a wet sack or with a layer of cut grass, 
leaves or garden rubbish. The ants cannot bear to work under 
cover, and soon leave the nest. 
THE AQUARIUM: ITS HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT. 
By H. BE. Fincxn. 
Tt is with much pleasure that I come before you this evening 
to tell you of the charms *of the Aquarium, which you all 
know is my favourite subject. I shall tell you how you ean 
keep fish to their comfort, and show you what a great amount 
of pleasure the keeping of an Aquarium will afford you. Not 
only to yourself, but also to your friends, for a fish-tank well 
established and stocked has a wonderful fascination for young 
and old, nature-lovers and others. 
The Aquarist is working hand-in-hand with nature, shows 
you nature as it is, not as it has been. The Aquarist cares for 
and cherishes life, and does not destroy to fill his press or 
cabinet. He shows you a piece of nature, a world of its own, 
which might almost be hermetically sealed, yet flourish, self- 
supporting, working in perfect harmony without the aid of out- 
side influence, excepting the influence of the heat and illuminating 
rays of the sun. 
The Aquarium is a most wonderful thing “Who but the owner 
of an Aquarium can show you oxygen being liberated by plant- 
life, and show you the appearing of life? From the apparent 
nothing, in a small crystal bead (the egg of a fish) you can 
observe life.appearing, and here you can observe the development 
of the embryo passing through all the stages of evolution (within 
one week or less) which has'taken nature millions and millions 
of years to evolve and perfect. 
T shall ask you to permit me to treat my subject as if you 
knew the Aquarium only just as a bowl containing water and 
fish. f 
