Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/167

Rh the intended victim, which rose to the surface like a cork; only, however, to become the breakfast of an expectant daisy, which was much too wise to reject or let slip so dainty a prey. The poor coral evidently regretted the untoward necessity of letting it go, for his mouth kept gaping for some time after the escape.

The animated flowers of the tropical seas far surpass those that bloom on our own shores. In the Red Sea, for instance, branching corals, madrepores, anemones of the most brilliant hues, flourish in such luxuriance as to form a submarine garden of unparalleled magnificence. "Where is the paradise of flowers," exclaims a German naturalist, "that can rival in variety and beauty these living wonders of the ocean?"

And these gardens of Nereus, through the introduction of the aquarium, may be brought into our homes. The brilliant and sparkling hues of the marine creatures will prove equally attractive in the tiny vase and in the boundless ocean, the more so as we may be fettered to bricks and mortar, shut in our town prison, or hemmed round by stern duties which we cannot elude; so the deep sea may roar a bluff greeting, but we hear it not! Let us consider how one of these mimic oceans may be formed. We procure a tank of plate glass, and cover its slate bottom with a layer of sand from the sea-beach, or even well-washed river sand. But