9 
lost to science. Father La Cueva and Haenke were together in a 
Pirogue upon the Rio ^lamore, one of the great tributaries of the 
Amazon river, when they discovered in the marshes by the side 
of the stream, a plant which was so surpassingly beautiful and 
extraordinary, that Haenke, in a transport of admiration, fell on 
his knees and expressed aloud his sense of the power and mag¬ 
nificence of the Creator in His works. They halted, and even 
encamped purposely near the spot, and quitted it with much 
reluctance. 
“ It was some months after this intendew with Father La 
Cueva that I was investigating the province of Moxos, the only 
means of travelling from one part of which to another is by water, 
and while I was going up the Rio de Madeiras towards the source 
of the Mamore, and often thinking over in my mind the anec¬ 
dote which the good old man had related to me, I beheld in an 
immense lake of stagnant water, which had a communication with 
the river, a plant of such extraordinary aspect, that I instantly 
concluded it must be the same as Haenke had seen. I also per¬ 
ceived that it was allied to the Water-Maize, already mentioned 
as found at Corrientes. Great was my delight to observe that 
this gigantic vegetable, though of the same genus, still differed 
specifically from that which I had seen before. The underside 
of the foliage and the crimson sepals were quite peculiar. Like 
Haenke, I made a perfect harvest of leaves and flowers; but sub¬ 
sequent illness, caused by alternate exposure to the blazing sun 
and drenching rains of these flooded plains, brought on such 
langour and exhaustion that I lost my specimens of this second 
species, and was thus deprived of the satisfaction of carrying the 
plant to Europe. 
** The honoiu of naming the original and first-found plant has 
been forestalled by Dr. Lindley, who calls it Victoria regia ; but 
to the one subsequently detected at Corrientes, I propose giving 
the name of Victoria Cruziana, in testimony of my obligations 
to General Cruz, whose kindness mainly contributed to the 
successful issue of my journey to Bolivia.” 
At the conclusion of IM. D’Orbigny’s interesting narrative, he 
goes on to define this so-called second species of Victoria •, but 
as the sole difference pointed out by him lies in the colour of 
the underside of the leaves and of the flowers {V. regia, “fqliis 
subtus purpiueis, petalis exterioribus virgineis, interioribus roseis, 
contrasted with “ foliis utrinque concoloribus, petalis cunctis con- 
coloribus roseis v. albis,” of V. Cruziana) we may, I think, with¬ 
out doing violenee to nature, or showing any disrespect to M. 
D’Orbigny, consider V. Cruziana as a mere variety, if it even 
