4<5o FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



romance of our own Laureate of "the mild-eyed 

 melancholy Lotos-eaters " to whom 



The gushing of the wave 

 Far away did seem to mourn and rave 

 On alien shores ; and if his fellow spake, 

 His voice was thin, as voices from the grave ; 

 And deep asleep he seemed, yet all awake, 

 And music in his ears his beating heart did make. 



We have discussed this subject in another place, 1 

 and only need to mention here the conclusion arrived 

 at, that the Lote-bush, which gave its name to the 

 ancient Lotophagi to this day, furnishes its fruit as 

 food to the Arabs of Barbary, and is the Zizyphus 

 lotus of botanists. 



1 M. C. Cooke on the " Lotos of the Ancients," in " Popular 

 Science Review," vol. x., p. 256. 



