56 ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



as curiously turned up in the edges, remained quite 

 flat an occurrence for which various causes have 

 been assigned. Even in this form, however, the 

 foliage was very buoyant, although certainly not so 

 much so as when fully developed under the suitable 

 natural conditions. It is related of the Chatsworth 

 plant, that a young lady enjoyed a sail on one of the 

 gigantic leaves, a board being placed upon it to pre- 

 vent her feet going through the fragile vegetable tex- 

 ture. Thus, as has been remarked., Homer's fabulous 

 story of Venus floating on the Water-Lily leaf might 

 be repeated as a practical feat, instead of remaining 

 a merely poetical fiction. When the plant increased 

 in age, the leaves presented a different appearance, 

 and the peculiar turned up margins, not observable 

 at first, became evident, so much so, that some of 

 the leaves are described as having " presented a per- 

 fect rim, like that of a common garden sieve," al- 

 though in no instance has this been so remarkable 

 as in the wild plant when grown in the American 

 waters. 



On the 1st of November, 1849, a flower-bud ap- 

 peared upon the Victoria at Chatsworth, indicating 

 a condition of advancement beyond what had been 

 attained by any of the other plants, at Kew, or else- 

 where in England. By this time, thirty-one addi- 

 tional leaves had been produced, the largest of which 

 measured four feet ten inches in diameter. Some 

 of the more vigorous leaves, at particular stages of 



