Ecospheres = Ecosystems = Closed systems = Terrarium?

Question 17-Nov-1999:           In the Victorian era, some folks built carefully balanced "ecosystems" in glass containers, usually a bottle which was sealed with wax.  They often had plants, water, small animal life (Such as microscopic pond creatures).  Some nature catalogs have small versions which contain shrimp and algae. I am interested in the name of these sealed containers, as well as whether or not you know of any material available on creating them.  Thank you for any assistance. On a totally different topic.....I am looking for a source to buy "sinnengila pusilla". These plants are a micro-miniaturee version of gloxina. Do you have any resources? Thanks ...hope to hear from you!

Wrong Answer 17-Nov-1999:
         I'm thinking these are a version of "Wardian Cases" or a variation on "Terrariums". I have a page dedicated to "Miniature Victorian Conservatories" that may help:         http://www.h2othouse.com/html/terrarium1.html
       For the mini gloxina, you could try a multi-engine search engine like http://www.google.com or
       http://www.mamma.com.  Here's some links for my wife's favorites:
       http://www2.netdoor.com/~jozeeben/html/gardening.htm

       Hope that helps and good luck! I'll see if I can find any other links and add them to the Wardian
       Case Page. Please let me know if you find anything

       Great growing!
       Joe Zeeben
      

Question re-phrased 17-Nov-1999:

Joe..Thanks for the quick response!  The Wardian cases aren't exactly what I am hunting.....this thing was called somthing-sphere.  It was totally enclosed and included water. I'll keep hunting and keep me in mind if anything like it turns up. About the sinningila..thanks for the lead. They are also called thimlbe violets. I had a "huge" (no pun inteneded) collection in the late 70's-early80's. The leaves are about the size of that zero I just typed. I'll try your sources. Thanks again!  BZ 

A better answer? 18-Nov-1999
A search of Biosphere's (human habitats) led to "ecospheres" and "closed Systems".

     http://www.biospherics.org/cfolsome.html
     http://www.biospherics.org/

A search of Ecospheres led to the following:

     http://www.virtualpet.com/vp/farm/ecos/ecos.htm
     http://www.eco-sphere.com/ecospheres.html
     http://www.eco-sphere.com/
     http://www.well.com/user/kk/OutOfControl/ch8-b.html
 http://www.hammacher.com/DefaultPage/default.asp?ContentPage=/ publish/17494.htm
   Nothing looked victorian, it was very NASA! But the technology could probably be applied to a Wardian case!
 



I wasn't able to find anything on miniature Gloxina, or Sinningila Pusilla but "thimble violets" yielded the following:
 http://home.pathcom.com/rmyhr/aboutges.htm

Sinningia pusilla yielded a bunch of links:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Sinningia+pusilla&site=search&sta rt=0&sa=N
And so did Gerneriads:
 http://www.google.com/search?q=Gesneriads&sa=Google+Search

I learned a lot! Thanks for the original questions. I may buy Ecospheres for my nieces and nephews for Christmas!

Joe