page bearing the Queen's signature is the Victoria Begia. A 

 wreath composed of all the known species of Coburgia surrounds 

 the signature of His late Eoyal Highness the Prince Consort. 

 Bending over that of Her Majesty Queen Charlotte are two 

 Strelitzias, bearing allusion to her birthplace (Mecklenburg- 

 Strelitz). Oranges are the emblem used for the King of the 

 Netherlands ; apples (iucluding the Siberian Crab) for the Em- 

 peror of Eussia ; Austrian violets for the Empress Maria Louisa ; 

 the Pyramids for His Highness the Viceroy of Egypt, &c., &c. 

 Among the concetti are the signatures of H.R.H. the Princess 

 Alice (now of Hesse) and of the Princesses Helena and Louisa, 

 each in the centre of a bloom of heartsease. 



A few table-cases, containing models of fruits and specimens 

 of Conifers and other plants, stand around the room, which is used 

 as a reading-room ; and, besides the table on which the Journals 

 of the day and Horticultural publications lie, another table is set 

 apart for the display of any novelties in fruit or flowers which 

 may be sent for exhibition, it sometimes happening that inte- 

 resting specimens may come to perfection between, the meetings 

 of the Fruit and Floral Committees, which would not otherwise 

 be made known to the Fellows. 



LATERAN AECADES. 



" Refreshing change, where now the blazing sun ? 

 By short transition we have lost his glare, 

 And stepped at once into a cooler clime." — Cowper. 



The portion of the Arcades or Colonnades embracing the 

 Ante-Garden or southern portion of the Garden was designed by 

 Captain Fowke. It is Byzantine in its tone, and is avowedly 



