ROYAL WATER-LILY. 51 



fitted to convey but a very imperfect notion of the 

 magnificent character of the living plant. Accord- 

 ingly, we find that repeated attempts were made to 

 transplant the Victoria from the South American 

 waters to the gardens of Britain, but long without 

 success. No doubt, a minute account of all the cir- 

 cumstances connected with the long series of futile 

 attempts to introduce the Royal Water-Lily might 

 form an interesting chapter in the history of botani- 

 cal and horticultural science, and an instructive one 

 for the scientific travellers, botanists, and horticultu- 

 rists of future times ; but it is more in our way to 

 notice in detail those efforts which have been more 

 or less successful. 



The first perfect seeds which reached England in 

 a condition fit for germination were those collected 

 in Bolivia by Mr Thomas Bridges (to whose obser- 

 vations we have already referred, p. 44), and which 

 were received at the Royal Gardens, Kew, in August, 

 1846. They were safely brought to this country 

 in a bottle containing moist earth, with which they 

 were mixed. These seeds produced only two plants, 

 the progress of which was at one time so satisfactory, 

 that they were confidently expected to flower. How- 

 ever, their melancholy history is thus briefly told : 

 " By the month of October, they were in a thriving 

 condition, but soon after that time they began to 

 show symptoms of decay, and by the 12th of Decem- 

 ber they were both dead." A short and a sad tale 



