HERODOTUS AS A BOTANIST. 81 



are purely local and Egyptian, and never to be found in 

 Greece, where the corresponding embellishments in archi- 

 tecture consist solely of the Lmic egg, the Corinthian 

 acanthus, and the Doric curve. The relation of the lotus to 

 Hindoo mythology will shortly be considered. 



Presentation of the lotus on festal occasions. — In Rawlinson's 

 Herodotus, Vol. II, p. 127. may be seen an illustration of an 

 attendant placing a garland round the neck of one of the 

 guests. Another attendant in the rear carries another 

 garland in his left hand, while he bears a lotus flower for 

 presentation in his right. 



lieview of tit e scientific names of the lotus. — I fear that I shall 

 have to bespeak a great deal of patience on your part if I am 

 ever to make clear the confusion that woidd otherwise prevail 

 respecting the generic and specific names of the lotus, and 

 the many different plants to which the word lotus (or lotos, 

 if the Greek form be retained) has been applied. To take 

 the word Ci/anon in the first place, which is a name given 

 by Pliu}' to the nympJuva nelumho, and of course signifies 

 '' blue."' The name is appropriat3 enough in itself, only that 

 the Latin equivalent coerulea has been given to the variety 

 of the nympluva lotus with a bluish tinge, called accordingly 

 nympluua ccerulea. The adjective Kvdveo^ is employed of 

 steel in Homer, and the appellation, simple and compounded, 

 is now used so frequently in entomology and botany too, to 

 designate various blue or bluish species, tbat its retention 

 in every c-ase is obviously of very dubious utility. Thus 

 among plants we have centaurea cyanus, the corn blue bottle. 

 ^'EscJnia cyanea is quite the commonest of the large long- 

 bodied dragon flies that arrest our attention in the hedge- 

 rows (ixesY summer, while butterflies possess the generic as 

 well as the specific name of cyane, and the following addi- 

 tional specific names cyanea, cyaiiipardns, cyanippe, cyaniris, 

 cyanoinelus, and cyanus. {Addenda 7., p. 106.) 



It Avas only to be supposed that the purity, the beauty, 

 and the grace of the waterdily tribe should lead to the generic 

 name of nj/mpha'a being assigned. Indeed, the appellation 

 of a "nymph" has been frequently bestowed on slender, 

 flitting inhabitants of the air as well ao on graceful plants 

 in science, and accordingly we have large families of butter- 

 flies classed as nymjjhalida', and irympludina', while smaller 

 sub-genera are termed nymphalis and nympliidinm, and indi- 

 vidual species are known as nynipha. nymphcdides, iiyni- 



