EOYAL WATER-LILY. 29 



Gray (Annals of Natural History, vol. vi., second 

 series, 146), it seems pretty evident that the original 

 and first published name of the plant is Victoria 

 Regina, and that the name of Victoria Regia, which 

 has of late been so very generally adopted, is not 

 only of more recent origin, but apparently the re- 

 sult of a typographical error. After detailing the 

 various circumstances that have given rise to the 

 different names which have been applied to the plant 

 by English botanists, Mr Gray goes on to say " I 

 think that this account proves that the name of 

 Victoria Regina, which received the sanction of her 

 Majesty, was the one first used and published, and 

 has the undoubted right of priority; and, I must 

 add, as a personal disclaimer, that I have always 

 considered that both the generic and the specific 

 name properly belonged to Mr (now Sir Robert) 

 Schomburgh, for it was he who proposed that the 

 plant should be dedicated to the Queen [originally 

 under the name of Nymphsea Victoria], and the 

 slight alteration made in his paper, before it was 

 read at the Botanical Society, was caused by our 

 having the means of comparison in London which he 

 had not at Berbice, and was regarded by me as a 

 simple act of friendship, such as was due to a person 

 in his situation." 



The Lily is known by the natives of the districts 

 where it is found under different names, such as 

 Mururd, Irupe, Yrupe, Morinqua, and Dachocho. 



