ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



flat; towards evening a faint blush becomes visible 

 in the centre, the petals fall back more and more, 

 and, at last, about six o'clock, a sudden change oc- 

 curs; in a few minutes, the petals arrange themselves 

 in the form of a snow-white hemisphere, whose edge 

 reposes on the water, and the centre rises majesti- 

 cally at the summit, producing a diadem of rosy 

 points. It then . . . constitutes one of the most 

 elegant objects in nature. Shortly after, the expan- 

 sion of the central parts proceeding, these points fall 

 back; the stamens unfold in an interior coronet, the 

 stigmas are laid bare, a grateful perfume arises in 

 the air, and the great object of the flower the ferti- 

 lisation of the seeds is accomplished. Then fold 

 inwards the petals, the flower closes, the fairest of 

 vegetable textures becomes wrinkled, decay begins, 

 and the flower-stalk withdraws itself beneath the 

 water, as if to veil the progress of corruption. But 

 out of this decay arises a new living body; the fruit, 

 curved downwards, swells rapidly, and in a short 

 time a prickly seed-vessel is observed concealed be- 

 neath the floating leaves." The Chatsworth plant 

 continued to bloom profusely, and likewise produced 

 abundance of fruit and perfect seeds, which ripened 

 in December, and from which were raised a new pro- 

 geny to replenish the gardens of England. The ripe 

 seed-vessel of the Victoria has been described, from 

 specimens produced in this country, as exactly re- 

 sembling a Meerschaum tobacco-pipe. 



