MYSTIC PLANTS. 4" 



the deities, were fragrant. The manner in which 

 they are held strengthens this probability, as there is 

 no other reason why they should be brought into 

 such close proximity to the nose. Savigny's blue 

 water lily {Nymphcea ccerulea) has just the habit and 

 the narrow acute petals of the lotos on the monu- 

 ments. The white lotos was evidently Nymphcea lotus, 

 which is common to India and Egypt Like others 

 of its kindred, it is liable to variation, and there is a 

 red variety, which some 

 have called a distinct 

 species, but Roxburgh 

 has declared that he 

 could see no difference 

 between them except the 

 colour of the flowers. 

 The blue lotos of Sa- 



Vigny, which he called ^. 85 ._ Lady with lotus flower, 

 Nymp/uza ccerulea, seems fr om Theban tomb ( Wilkinson). 

 to be the Nympltcea stel- 



laiaoi modern botanists. Messrs. Hooker andThomson 

 have pronounced the opinion that " the blue water 

 lily of the Nile and India are (like their white 

 congener N. lotus) specifically the same, the most 

 prominent difference to be found between them being 

 the sweet scent of the African plant, and its usually 

 more numerous petals and stamens." The fragrant 

 blue lotos seems to be the most common one repre- 



