Chapter VII.--The Frog--Notes on Management 140
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
Cabinet Aquarium _Frontispiece._
Tank containing Vallisneria Spiralis, Anacharis, Gold Carp, Roach, and Minnow _Page_ 11
Vase Aquarium 15
Callitriche 22
Stratoides Aloides 24
Vallisneria Spiralis 25
Myriophyllum Spicatum 27
Potamogeton Densus 28
Ranunculus Aquatalis 30
Hydrocaris Morsus Ranæ 31
Tank containing Gudgeon, Prussian Carp, Loach, and Bream 33
Tank containing Minnow, Tench, and Perch 41
Tank containing Planorbis Corneus, Paludina Vivipara, Lymnea Stagnalis, Unio Pictorum, Tumidus, and Anodon Cygneus 45
Cleansing Sponge 50
Actinia Mesembryanthemum, Dictyota Dychotoma 64
Porcellana Platycheles, and Cancer Pagurus 72
Carcinas Mænas 73
Actinia Anguicoma, Trochus Ziziphinus, Ulva Latissima, Bryopsis Plumosa, Acorn Barnacle 75
Actinia Bellis and Gemmacea, Delesseria Alata, Polysiphonia Urceolata 76
Actinia Dianthus, Delesseria Sanguinea, Callithamnium Roseum, Griffithsia Setacea 82
Edwardsia Vestita, Æsop Prawn, Enteromorpha Compressa, Ulva Latissima 86
Dipping Tube 96
Syphon 99
Hand Net 107
Diving Spiders and Nests 112
Transformation of the Dragon Fly 120
Virgin and Green Dragon Flies 122
Larva of the Gnat 124
Larva of Stratiomys 125
Larvæ and Imago of Case Fly 128
Grating of Case Worm, Magnified 129
Dytiscus and Larva, Reduced 132
Hydrous Piceus 134
Colymbetes 135
Gyrinus Natator 137
Gyrinus, Magnified 138
Water Scorpion 142
Transformations of the Tadpole 144, 145
Pocket Lens 147
PREFACE.
Every day adds to the popularity of the Aquarium, but every day does not add to the accuracy of the published descriptions of it, or the perspicuity of the directions everywhere given for its formation and maintenance. Lately the periodical press has teemed with essays on the subject; but it does not require a very close scrutiny for the practical man to discern that a majority of such papers express the enthusiasm rather than the knowledge of their authors--a few weeks' management of a tank seeming to be considered a sufficient qualification for the expounding of its philosophy, though it demands an acquaintance with the minutest details of the most refined departments of botany and zoology to do anything like justice to it.
I have done my best to explain and illustrate the whole _rationale_ of marine and fresh-water tanks in my lately published work, _Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste_; but since that work, owing to the expense incurred in its production, is published at a price which every lover of the Aquarium cannot command, I have thought it no less a duty than a pleasure to treat the subject more briefly, but still practically, and I hope profitably, in a volume of less dimensions and less cost, written for another class of readers.
The object of this little work is to teach the beginner how to proceed safely and pleasurably in setting up aquaria, whether for mere ornament or for the study of the novel forms of animal and vegetable life which these collections enable us to observe closely, no less for the increase of our knowledge of the world, than for the exaltation of our sense of the omnipotence and benignity of Him who created it.
The Nursery, Tottenham.
THE BOOK OF THE AQUARIUM.
THE FRESH WATER TANK.