Page:The Book of the Aquarium and Water Cabinet.djvu/41

Rh upon the surface. When you have secured as many complete plants as you require—and two strong stems will be enough for any tank—pick off a dozen or more blossom-heads, taking each at a clear joint. When the roots are planted, sprinkle the short flowering tops over the surface, and you will have at once a wide spread of snow-white flowers that will continue gay till the end of the summer, while the fixed roots will give a graceful effect to the vegetation of the mid-water.

Hydrocaris morsus ranæ, or the common frog-bit, may be obtained of the dealers, and is common in brooks and rivers. It is a perennial, interesting in its growth, very curious when in flower, and a good maker of oxygen.

Alisma, of several species, may be obtained from brooks and rivers in plenty. It is the Water Plaintain of the old botanists, and has an ancient renown, which cannot be dealt with here. The long stems and lanceolate leaves of this genera give a pleasing variety to the vegetation of the tank.

Lemna.—The four English species may be used to advantage. If the whole of the surface be covered with the pretty grass-green fronds of this very common plant, the effect is good, and it gives a salutary shade to the finny creatures. A single frond thrown in will soon spread and cover the tank in time, and its growth cannot