GLEANINGS AND ORIGINAL MEMORANDA. 175 
July 30.— The Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society to the Secretary of Botanical Society, forwarding, 
at the request of Mr. Schomburgk, one copy of the drawings and descriptions, and adding, that as Mr. Si-hom- 
burgk was travelling entirely under the control, and at the cost, of the Geographical Society, the Council 
were of opinion, that whatever drawing he may wish to present to Her Majesty should pass directly to 
the Queen through the hands of the Royal Geographical Society, and they will therefore relieve the Botanical 
Society from any further trouble on that account. 
Aug. L— Secretary of Royal Geographical Society to Mr. Schomburgk, stating that his drawing had been 
presented to the Queen, that Her Majesty had accepted the dedication under the name of Victoria Regia, as it 
would prove to be a new genus ; and that it would be placed in proper train for being suitably published. 
Aug. 3.—Secretary of Royal Geographical Society to Dr. Lindley, transmitting the Queen's copy of the 
drawings, and requesting him to superintend the publication of the flower, and a correct description of it. 
Also stating, that the Queen had been pleased to accept the dedication of it, and to signify her pleasure that 
it should bear the name of Victoria Regia, if, as believed, the flower should prove to be an undescribed genus. 
Thus it is manifest that Mr. Gray's statement is a tissue of mistakes ; as he has, indeed, been subsequently obliged 
to admit in the Annals of Natural History for December last. 1. The plant received the name it bears, by Her Majesty's 
permission, before Mr. Schomburgk's drawings were even in the hands of the Botanical Society. We may add, that it 
was generally known to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, and to the numerous visitors that called to Bee the 
drawings within the first fortnight, by the name of Victoria Regia, and by no other ; and that, consequently, Mr. Gray 
might have informed himself of that circumstance had he made any inquiry, as we think he was called upon to do, before 
he ventured to make public a document which the Botanical Society had been officially informed was forwarded by a 
traveller " entirely under the control and at the cost of the Geographical Society,"— a tolerably intelligible, although 
courteous hint, which most men would have known how to receive. 2. That the Editor of the Atheiwuin, in changing 
the words Victoria Regina to Victoria Regia, in the Index of the year 1837, did not commit " an error of the press," but 
silently corrected one, by employing the name which he, as a well-informed man, knew was that by which the plant 
would be in future called. Possibly, too, as a scholar, he saw the absurdity of the name Victoria Reginx. 3. That 
Mr. Schomburgk's papers did not " find their way into the hands of Dr. Lindley," as Mr. Gray pretends, but were 
officially communicated to him for the express purpose of publication, and by the only Society which had any property 
in them. 4, That the Geographical Societv could scarcely have afterwards hm«rnwed 
drawings 
possessed, and most certainly did not do so, if they borrowed them at all, for any such purpose as Mr. Gray asserts. 
But Mr. Gray's inaccuracy does not terminate here. 
form 
Botanical Re 
for 1 838, p. 11. But if the reader will consult that work, he will find nothing of the sort. Dr. Lindley's statement, before 
examining the plant personally, and judging merely from Mr. Schomburgk's drawings, was this : — " This noble plant 
corresponds with the genus Euryale in the spiny character of the leaves and stalks, and to a certain extent in the great 
development of the former organs ; but it is, in fact, most nearly related to Nympheea itself." At p. 12, where the 
result is given of an examination of some decayed flowers, it is stated that" Victoria is quite distinct from Euryale ;" 
and the whole of the succeeding observations are made for the purpose of showing that Victoria is very different from 
Euryale; the last words of the little dissertation referred to being these — u notwithstanding a prima foci* resemblance to 
Euryale, Victoria is, in fact, more nearly allied to Nymphaea. 
So much for Mr. John Edward Gray. Another proposal, made by Mr. Sowerby, to change the name of Victoria regia 
to that of V. amazonica, because it now appears that the plant was originally called Euryale amazonka, we do not think 
worth serious consideration. 
» 
231. Gynerium argentexjm. Nees. (alias Arundo dioica Sprenael ; alias Arundo 
Schultes.) A tall reedy perennial, with harsh serrated leaves, and lars 
Belongs to Grasses. Native of Brazil and Montevideo. (Fig. 111.) 
iilkv plum 
This noble plant, now called the Pampas Grass, in consequence of its inhabiting the vast plains of S. America so named, 
has been introduced within a few years through Mr. Moore, of the Glasneviu Botanic Garden. Although but a Grass it 
will probably form one of the most useful objects of garden decoration obtained for many years. In stature it rivals the 
Bamboo, being described as growing in its native plains several times as high as a man. The leaves are hard, wiry, very 
rough at the edge, not half an inch broad at the widest part, of a dull grey green colour, much paler below. They are 
edged by sharp points or teeth, little less hard than the teeth of a file. The flowers appear in panicles from l£ to 2± feet 
long, resembling those of the common reed, but of a silvery whiteness, owing to their being covered with very long 
colourless hairs, and themselves consisting of colourless membranous glumes and pales. 
According to Prof. Kunth this species is an Arundo. But to us it appears quite as different from that genus as from 
Gynerium. And although it is by no means one of the same genus as O. saccharides, yet it may as well preserve 
its common name, faulty though it be, as be transferred to Arundo, from which it must be expelled. The inflexed hook 
