64 
THE CRIMSON WATER-LILY. 
nearly conceal The stigmatic apparatus consists of fifteen papillose rays, which are free and smooth 
at their extremities, curved inwards and fleshy, surrounding a central nipple ; as in Nymphtea alba 
and others. To these extremities it is desirable that anatomists should direct their attention, 
inasmuch as their pecnhar construction indicates some very pecviliar function. In Nymj)li(Ea alba 
they are deep yellow, firm like wax, with a strong even epiderm, and are filled with a soft loose 
cellular substance, containing an abundance of large coarse scabrous hairs, sometimes half circular, 
sometimes straight, all placed parallel with the external surface. They are evidently analogous 
to the scabrous hairs so abundant in the air cells of Nymphsea. The yellow ends of the stigmatic 
rays of Nuphax do not contain tliis tissue. Nor is there anytliing in Victoria, much as that plant 
abounds in stellate internal hairs, wliich is identical with the extremities of the stigmatic apparatus 
of Nymphsea. 
Other peculiarities are observable among water-hlies, and are, it must be supposed, connected with 
their vital functions, although we know not in what way. The pollen, for instance, varies greatly in 
some of the genera. In NymplicEa rulra it is simple, globose, and perfectly smooth ; in Nymplma alba 
it is similar, but the surface is slightly rough. In the yellow water-lily {Nu][jliaT hitea)^ on the 
contrary, it is covered with such long points that the pollen-grains hold together in masses, like burs. 
On the other hand in Victoria, where the pollen is much larger, the grains are perfectly smooth and 
.constantly grow together in threes or fours. 
In the Crimson Water-lily the leaves are closely covered on the underside with a soft felt of 
delicate hairs, which are quite perceptible to the touch. Examined with the microscope the hairs 
are found to be simple attenuated smooth cones, with no tendency to branch or become stellate. 
Not a trace is perceptible on the leaf of those curious perforations in Victoria which have been 
mistaken for stomates, but which in reahty are passages through the thickness of the leaf, and are 
altogether, as far as we know, sni generis. We may as well take the present opportunity of saying of 
these perforations that instead of being stomates, wliich are also present in Victoria, they are formed 
by a depression of two corresponding points of the upper and under surface of the leaf, and are at 
first closed by a transverse membrane. After a short time this membrane disappears, and a clear 
passage through the leaf is thus efi^ected. Possibly this contrivance may be intended to allow the 
air to escape upwards, that would otherwise collect below the under surface of the leaves in Victoria 
in the spaces included by its deep ribs, and thus prevent that contact of water which may be assumed 
to be necessary to the health of that extraordinary aquatic. 
