File:The aquarium (1893) (19558317620).jpg

Title: The aquarium
Identifier: aquarium3261893mule (find matches)
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Mulertt, Hugo
Subjects: Aquarium animals; Aquarium fishes; Aquariums
Publisher: Brooklyn, N. Y. : H. Mulertt
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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28 TFIE AQUARIUM, JANUARY, 1893. awhile out of its native element. Ham- ilton Buehannan observes that he has known it to retain vitality under these conditions for six days. That it travels from pond to pond when its means of subsistence fail is a well known fact; but that it buries itself in the mud as tanks dry up, and remain there until the monsoon of the next year fills them with water is a statement that requires further research before it can be ac- cepted. These fishes being common in most pieces of fresh water in Mala- bar, and being esteemed good eating by the natives, are much fished for. The natives when catching them invariably bite their head to destroy life. On one occasion, says Surgeon Day, this prac- tice led to a fatal result, the fish having slipped down the throat of the fisher- man it could not be withdrawn, owing to the erectile nature of the gill covers and scales, and the man died of suffo- cation before reaching the hospital. THE SAGITTARIA OR ARROW- HEAD. In the great economy of Nature the sagittaria have contributed their full share to the support of the human family in all parts of the world. The Chinese and Japanese cultivate them very extensively for food, also the Tar- tar Kalmucks use them for food. Aquatic birds are fond of them, and resort to favorite spots in spring to feast upon the tubers, when the Indians slay the birds for their own feasts. The tubers are generally as large as hens' eggs, and are greatly relished when raw, but have a bitter, milky juice, not agreeable to civilized man ; this is destroyed in boiling, however, and the roots 'Ave rendered sweet and palatable. They are considered excellent when cooked with meat, either salt or fresh. To collect the roots the Indians wad& into the water and loosen them with their feet, when they float up and are- gathered. They are of an oblong shape, in color whitish yellow, banded witli four black rings (U. S. Agr. Rept., 1870). They serve as food for the In- dians of Washington, under the name of Wappatoo. In shallow ponds and
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The Arrow Head. muddy margins of lakes and rivers throughout the Northwest this plant, so variable in foliage and so abundant in distribution, furnishes an important article of native food in the tubers which beset its fibrous roots. These tubers, from the fact of their affording nourishment to the larger aquatic fowls which congregate in such abundance about the Northwestern lakes, are

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