I IO 



NA TURE 



{May 31, 1883. 



two and stitched together, and serving as clasps for the 

 sepals and petals of Nymphaa ccerulea, Savi, and 

 Nympheea Lotus, Hook., the whole strung on strips of the 

 leaves of the date palm. Besides the wreaths, there were 

 in the coffin at the side of the body, and fastened between 

 the bands encircling the mummy, whole flowers of 

 Nymphcra ccerulea on stalks eighteen or twenty inches 

 long. The water-lilies thus scattered separately on the 

 mummy were all of the blue-flowered species. An exa- 

 mination of these entire flowers and the sepals and petals 

 in the wreaths, whether of the white or of the blue- 

 flowered species, leaves no doubt whatever respecting 

 their identity with the living plants so common in ditches 

 at the present day, especially in Lower Egypt, where they 

 blossom from July to November. 



The Nymphaa ccerulea, Savi, which figures on all the 

 ancient monuments of Egypt and among the offerings 

 painted on the walls of the temples is often recognisable 

 from the blue colour of its petals. In the temple of 

 Ramses II. at Abydos the colour is remarkably well pre- 

 served, and be -ides there is alwavs a leaf associated with 



each cluster of flowers, clearly demonstrating by its entire 

 (not toothed) margin that the specie6 represented is ,<V. 

 ccerulea and not N. Lotus. The latter, whose sepals and 

 petals occur abundantly in the wreaths taken from the 

 coffins of Ramses II. and Amenhotep I., has not been 

 found by me on the ancient monuments, though linger 

 records an instance at Beni Hassan where the white 

 flower could be recognised. With regard to the question 

 to which of the species the old name Lotus properly 

 belongs, I have been able to ascertain the following facts. 

 No design on the ancient monuments is referable to 

 Nelumbium j neither the fruits nor the leaves, so easily 

 characterised, are recognisable. Further, no remains of 

 Nelumbium have been found either in the coffins or 

 among the offerings and funeral repasts deposited in the 

 vaults of the Pharaohs. The Lotus was not referred to 

 Nelumbium until a very much later epoch. This plant 

 has not been found among the wild plants of any part of 

 Africa. It is eminently Asiatic, and was perhaps not 

 introduced into Egypt before the Persian invasion. At 

 the time of Ramadus it was probably cultivated every- 



Fig. 1. — Portion of a Funeral Wreath from the tomb of Ramses 1 1, (loco to 1200 u c.). composed of the folded haves of Mimusops Schimperi and the 

 petals of Nymphtea cterulea, Savi, stitched together with strips of the leaves of the Date Palm. A separate leaf of Mimusops Schimperi. 



— that of M. Kummel, Bruce, a species spread through- 

 out Abyssinia and the region of the Upper Nile ; yet no 

 species of the genus is found wild in Egypt. The leaves 

 forming the wreaths in question should belong to the 

 same species as the fruits found in the tombs. Never- 

 theless, in comparing them with numerous specimens of 

 Mimusops Kummel, I did not meet with the perfect 

 identity one would hive expected from the resemblance 

 of the fruits. In Central Africa, and especially in Ab>s- 

 sinia, an allied species, M. Schimperi, exists, the leaves 

 of which are much more like those of the wreaths. 

 A longer, and especially a slenderer, weaVer petiole, and a 

 more acute, less abruptly acuminate blade characterise 

 these leaves. With regard to the fruit of M. Schimperi, 

 I have not had an opportunity of studying it. More- 

 over the two species under consideration are not suffi- 

 ciently established as distinct species. But an anatomical 

 character came to my aid. Dr. Westermaier of Berlin 

 has ascertained that the leaves of Mimusops Schimperi 

 and of M. Elengi, L., have a double layer of epidermal 

 cells, a character they possess in common with the leaves 

 from the ancient tombs ; whereas in the leaves of M. 

 Kummel there is only a single epidermal layer of cells. 



where in Egypt, for we often find it in the mosaics, sculp- 

 tures, &c, of that period, associated with papyrus and 

 animals characteristic of the Nile, and easily recognised 

 by its fruit. 



The most ancient writer who treats of the Egyptian 

 Lotus in such a way as to leave no doubt that he meant 

 the Nelumbium, and not a species of Nymphaa, is 

 Herodotus (lib. ii. cap. 92) ; after him Theophrastus 

 ("Hist. Plant." lib. iv.), and then Strabo, while Pliny 

 (lib. xiii.) clearly alludes to a Nymphaa in a comparison 

 of the fruit with the capsule of a poppy. 



The Mimusops was evidently a sacred tree to the 

 ancient Egyptians. The fruits, or the stones of the 

 fruits, which had been eaten, are often found in the 

 funeral repasts in the vaults ; and the leaves not only 

 occur in the wreaths of the ancient empire but likewise 

 in those of later times, even down to the Graeco-Roman 

 epoch, as specimens in the Leyden Museum testify. 



The fruit of Mitnusofis found in Egyptian tombs 1 ex- 

 actly resembles— except that the stones are a little thicker 



1 The ancient fruits, however, have usually a thicker stone, the three 

 ang'es of which appear to be more prominent than in that of M. Kummel, 

 Bruce. 



