10 
desen e such a distinction, of V. regia. No one can have examined 
the aquatic plants, either of our outi or of foreign coiuitries, 
without remarking that those parts whicli come in contact with 
the fluid are apt to turn purple, without any apparent cause for 
such change. 
It now only remains, before completing the historical narra¬ 
tive of this plant, to say that the specimens from which the ac¬ 
companying analyses are made, are exclusively derived from Mr. 
Bridges. On his return from his journey through Bolivia, of 
which some particulars are given at p. 571. of vol. 4. of our 
‘ London Journal of Botany ’, Mr. Bridges detected the Victoria 
regia in considerable abundance, and brought home, in 1846, 
seeds in wet clay and well-dried foliage; also flowers, preserved in 
spirits. It is to be regretted there were no ripe capsules (ours is 
drawn from the figure of Sir R. Schomburgk), and of the seeds 
the majority were decayed; so that out of twenty-two which wo 
purchased, only two have germinated, the rest being in a state 
equally unfit for examination and descri})tion. 
We lament extremely that Mr. Bridges’ severe illness puts it 
totally out of his power to give any information respecting his 
collecting this plant, or indeed of its exact locality.* We have 
always understood the latter to be in some part of the Republic 
* Happily the improved state of IVIr. Bridges’ health has enabled him to com¬ 
municate to us the following information; but which has only come, as it were, at 
the twelfth hour, after our whole description had been corrected and made ready 
for press. We are therefore compelled to give it in the form of a note. 
" During my stay at the Indian town of Santa Anna, in the pro\dnce of Moxos, 
Republic of Boli\ia, during the months of June and July, 1845, I made daily 
shooting excursions in the vicinity. In one of these I had the good fortune 
(whilst riding along the woody banks of the river Yacuma, one of the tributary 
rivers of the Mamore) to come suddenly on a beautiful pond, or rather small 
lake, embosomed in the forest, where, to my delight and astonishment, I dis¬ 
covered, for the first time, “ the Q/Ueen of Aquatics,” the VictoTxct, TCffici ! there 
were at least fifty flowers in view, and Belzoni could not have felt more rapture 
at his Egyptian discoveries than I did in beholding the beautiful and novel sight 
before me, such as it has fallen to the lot of few Englishmen to witness. Eain 
would I have plunged into the lake to procure specimens of the magnificent 
flowers and leaves; but knowing that these waters abounded in Allifrators I 
was deterred from.doing so by the advice of my guide, and my owm experience of 
similar places. I now turned over in my thoughts how and in wEat way flowers 
and leaves might be obtained, and I clearly saw that a canoe was necessary, and 
therefore promptly returned to the towm, and communicated my discovery and 
wants to the Correjidor or Governor, Don Jose Maria Zarate, who with much 
kindness immediately ordered the Cacique to send Indians with a yoke of oxen 
for the purpose of drawing a canoe from the river Yacuma to the lake. Beino- 
apprised that the canoe was in readiness, I returned in the afternoon, with sever5 
Indians to assist in carrying home the expected prize of leaves’ and flowers. 
The canoe being very small, only three persons could embark; myself in the 
middle, and an Indian in the bows and stem. In this tottering little bark we 
