146 Miscellaneous. 



only differences I have been able to see are, that the membranaceous 

 border of the glumes is much narrower in E. uniglumis, and that the 

 lowest glume surrounds the spike entirely, while in E. lialustris it 

 surrounds only half of the spike. 



All the places where I have seen E. uniglumis have been on the 

 sea-shore, usually in company with Blysmus rufus, but in Germany 

 it is found inland. 



The object of this paper is to direct the attention of young bota- 

 nists to this plant, with the expectation of hearing of its discovery 

 in other stations, which must be my excuse in bringing it before the 

 Society. 



84 Great King Street, Edinburgh, June 18, 1850, 



On the Names of the Victoria Water Lily. By J. E. Gray, Esq. 



This plant has three names very nearly alike, and two of them ap- 

 pear to have originated from errors of the press. 



Mr. Schomburgk, on the 11th of May 1837, sent through the Geo- 

 graphical Society a letter to the Botanical Society of London, con- 

 taining the description of this beautiful Water Lily, accompanied by 

 two drawings and a leaf of the plant. He proposed to call it Nym- 

 phcea Victoria, but before the p^per was read, it was observed that the 

 plant appeared to form a genus intermediate between Nymphcea and 

 Euryale. The paper was slightly altered to make this change, and 

 in a report of the Proceedings of the Botanical Society, which ap- 

 peared in the Athenaeum Journal of the 9th of September 1837 

 (p. 661), Mr. Schomburgk's description is printed entire, as that of 

 a " new genus of Water Lily named Victoria Regina by permission of 

 Her Majesty." Mr. Schomburgk's paper was again read and his 

 drawings exhibited at the meeting of the British Association on the 

 1 1th of September 1837, by me, and I am reported to have " remarked, 

 that this splendid plant would form a new genus with characters in- 

 termediate between Nymphtsa and Euryale, and proposed to name it 

 Victoria Regina :" see Report in Mag. of Zool. and Bot. for October 

 1837, vol. ii. p. 373. Schomburgk's description and an engraving of 

 the plant, copied from his drawing, appeared in the next number of 

 that Journal, which came out on the 1st of November 1837 (vol. ii. 

 p. 441. tab. 12*). The description was reprinted again, with copies 

 of Mr. Schomburgk's drawing of the plant and his details of the 

 flower, in the Proceedings of the Botanical Society, p. 44. t. 1 & 2. So 

 much for the name Victoria Regina, Schomburgk. 



In the ' Magazine of Zoology and Botany,' by a mistake of the 

 engraver, the plate is lettered " Victoria Regalis Schomburgh,'" though 

 the proper name is used in the text. This second name has not been 



* It is to be observed that the title-page of the volume bears date 1838, 

 but the number containing the description and figure was published on 

 the 1st of November 1837- This date on the title has mislecl some bota- 

 nists. Thus Sir W. Hooker quotes that description as if it had not appeared 

 in that work until 1838 : see Bot. Mag. 3rd series, vol. iii. t. 4275-4278. 



