Jan. 1, 1SC9.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



are of large size, very broad in proportion to the 

 length, and show a rudely dendritic " water- vas- 

 cular" system. This variety is much less active 

 than the above-mentioned, and far less abundant. 

 Like the "White Planaria, it has the habit of pucker- 

 ing its body into folds when at rest. 



It has been a matter of doubt whether the 

 Planariae possess the faculty of sight, although they 

 exhibit eye-spots varying in number from two to 

 sixteen, and even more. I incline to think they do 

 derive some aid from these eyes in their progress. 

 In a jar in which my Planariae are kept, the weeds 

 hang above a large stone, up which the worms 

 crawl, and, immediately lifting up their bodies on 

 the posterior extremity, they pass on to the over- 

 hanging weed without pausing or feeling about for 

 a hold ; thus proving that they are conscious of the 

 presence of the weed, though it is nearly half an inch 

 above them. A. Hakt Evebett. 



ELORAL GIANTS. 



THE two largest flowers in the world hold very 

 distinct places in the vegetable kingdom; 

 inasmuch as one is a water-plant with leaves pro- 

 portionally large, the other a parasite on tree trunks, 

 without any leaves at all. In short, the one is the 

 representative giant of aquatic, the other of 

 land plants. The aquatic is the elegant Victoria 

 regia (the Irupe or water-plate of the natives of 

 Guiana, the Royal Water-lily), which for beauty, 

 size, and sweetness of scent stands without a rival. 

 Its enormous flowers, measuring not less than 15 

 inches across, open each evening, of a pure white, 

 but gradually assume a pink hue, diffusing, as they 

 mature, a delicious odour. As is the case with our 

 own water-lilies, the flowers are accompanied by 

 several floating leaves, each 5 or 6 feet in diameter : 

 but these leaves, to meet the necessities of the case, 

 are of a very peculiar construction : the edges are 

 turned upwards, forming a ridge 3 or 4 inches high 

 the whole way round, giving the leaf the appearance 

 of a huge platter. The lower surface, which is of a 

 purplish-red colour, is traversed in every direction 

 by stout projecting ribs, strengthening the material 

 of the leaf to an incredible extent. 



This glorious plant, an inhabitant of the Amazon 

 and some of its affluents, was first discovered by a 

 German traveller, Thaddeus Haenke, in 1S01; it 

 was soon after seen by Bonpland, but was first 

 described by Poppig in 1S32, and named by him 

 Euryale Amazonica. Five years later Sir R. Schom- 

 burgk again fell in with it in the river Berbice, and 

 from the examination of specimens sent home by 

 him it was removed by Professor Lindley from the 

 before-named genus and re-named Victoria regia. 

 Schomburgk describes so graphically his feelings on 



first encountering this stately plant, that I cannot 

 resist inserting the passage : — 



" While contending with the difficulties that 

 nature opposed in different forms to our progress 

 up the river Berbice, we arrived at a point where 

 the river expanded and formed a currentless basin. 

 Some object on the southern extremity of this basin 

 attracted my attention. It was impossible to form 

 any idea of what it could be ; and animating the 

 crew to increase the rate of their paddling, we were 

 shortly afterwards opposite the object that had 

 raised my curiosity— a vegetable wonder ! All 

 calamities were forgotten ; I felt as a botanist, and 

 felt myself rewarded : a gigantic leaf, from 5 to 6 

 feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a broad rim, of 

 a light green above and a vivid crimson below, 

 resting on 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." 



Sir Robert has himself told me the story in a 

 similar strain, and has mentioned how he has seen 

 large heavy water-birds standing, three or four 

 together, on the broad leaves, supported by the net- 

 work of ribs on the lower surface.* 



The other giant, Rafflesia, has none of the graces 

 which distinguish the lovely Victoria: it is note- 

 worthy, however, both for its enormous size and for 

 the extraordinary circumstance that the solitary 

 flower constitutes the whole plant. There is 

 literally neither stem, branch, leaf, nor in fact any 

 organ whatever, except the flower itself and the 

 rootlike processes by which it is attached to the 

 trunk of the tree on which it grows and by whose 

 juices it is nourished. Let the reader imagine a 

 great dull red corolla fixed to the side of a tree — 

 generally some species of Cissus — undistinguished 

 by a stem and unrelieved by leaf or verdure of any 

 kind, and he will have some notion of this singular 

 production of the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 



Clifton. W. W. Spicek. 



Local Names, whether of birds, beasts, or fishes, 

 and of all vegetable organisms, will be of service if 

 sent either to Mr. James Britten, of High Wycombe, 

 or Mr. Robert Holland, of Mobberley, Knutsford, 

 Cheshire. 



* It is worth recalling to mind that the late Sir J. Paxton, 

 the architect of the Great Exhibition building-, 1851, borrowed 

 his plan of construction from the leaf of the Victoria. He 

 says : " It was here (Chatsworth) that this singularly beau- 

 tiful aquatic flowered for the first time in this country, on 

 Nov. 9, 1£-19. You will observe that Nature was the engineer 

 in this case. If you examine this and compare it with the 

 drawings and models, you will perceive that Nature has pro- 

 vided it with longitudinal and transverse girders and sup- 

 porters, on the same principle that I, borrowing from it, have 

 adopted in this building." 



