10 



as a botanist, and felt myself rewarded : a gigantic leaf from 

 five to six feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a broad rim ; 

 of a light green above, and a vivid crimson below, resting 

 upon the water. Quite in character with the wonderful leaf 

 was the luxuriant flower, consisting of many hundred petals, 

 .passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose and pink. 

 The smooth water was covered with the blossoms, and as 

 I rowed from one to the other I always observed something 

 new to admire. The leaf on its upper surface is of a bright 

 green ; in form almost orbicular, except that on one side it 

 is slightly bent in ; its diameter measured from five to six 

 feet ; around the Vhole margin extended a rim, from three 

 to five inches high, on the inside light green, like the surface 

 of the leaf, on the outside like the leafs lower surface, of a 

 bright crimson. The ribs are very prominent, almost an 

 inch high, radiating from a common centre ; there are eight 

 principal ones, with a good many others, branching off from 

 them ; these are crossed again by a membrane or bands at 

 right angles, which gives the whole the appearance of a 

 spider's web, and are beset with prickles ; the veins contain 

 air-cells like the petiole and flower stem. The divisions of 

 the ribs and bands are visible on the upper surface of the 

 leaf, by which it appears areolated. The young leaf is con- 

 volute and expands but slowly.' The prickly stem ascends 

 with the young leaf till it has reached the surface ; by the 

 time it is developed, its own weight depresses the stem, and 

 it floats on the water. The stalk of the flower is an inch 

 thick near the calyx, and is studded with sharp elastic 

 prickles, about three-quarters of an inch in length. The 

 calyx is four-leaved, each sepal upwards of seven inches in 

 length, and three inches in breadth; at the, base they are 

 thick, white inside, reddish brown and prickly outside ; the 

 diameter of the calyx is from twelve to thirteen inches ; on 

 it rests the magnificent corolla, which, when fully developed, 

 completely covers the calyx, with its hundred petals. When 

 it first opens, it is white, with pink in the middle, which 

 spreads over the whole flower the more it advances in age, 

 and it is generally found the next day altogether of a pink 

 colour ; as if to enhance its beauty it is sweet scented. 

 Like others of its tribe, the petals and stamens pass gradually 

 into each other, and many petaloid leaves may be observed 

 which have vestiges of an anther. The petals next to the 



