46 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
crimson. The ribs are very prominent, almost an inch high, 
and radiate from a common centre, and consist of eight prin- 
cipal ones, with a great many others branching off from them. 
These are crossed again by a raised membrane, or bands at 
right angles, which gives the whole the appearance of a 
spider’s web, and are beset with prickles; the veins contain 
air cells like the petiole and flower stem. The divisions of 
the ribs and bands are visible on the upper surface of the 
leaf, by wdiich it appears areolated. The young leaf is con- 
volute, and expands but slowly ; the prickly stem ascends 
with the young leaf till it has reached the surface ; by the 
time it is developed, its own weight depresses the stem, and 
it floats now on the water. The stem of the flower is an inch 
thick near the calyx, and is studded with sharp elastic prickles, 
about three quarters of an inch in length. The calyx is four- 
leaved, each upwards of seven inches in length, and three 
inches in breadth ; at the base they are thick, w hite- inside, 
reddish brown and prickly outside. The diameter of the 
calyx is twelve to thirteen inches, on it rests the magni- 
ficent flower, which, when fully developed, covers completely 
the calyx with its hundred petals. When it first opens, it is 
white, with pink in the middle, which spreads over the whole 
flow r er, the more it advances in age, and it is generally found 
the next day of a pink colour. As if to enhance its beauty, it 
is sweet-scented. Like others of its tribe it possesses a 
fleshy disk, and the petals and stamens pass gradually into 
each other, and many petaloid leaves may be observed which 
have vestiges of an anther. The petals next to the leaves of 
the calyx are fleshy, and possess air-cells, which certainly 
must contribute to the buoyancy of the flower. The seeds 
of the many-celled fruit are numerous, and imbedded in a 
spongy substance. We met them hereafter frequently, and 
the higher we advanced the more gigantic they became. We 
measured a leaf, which w r as six feet five inches in diameter, 
its rim five and a half inches high, and the flower across fif- 
teen inches. The flower is much injured by a beetle, (Tri- 
chius, “ Spec. ?”) which destroys completely the inner part 
of the disk, w r e have counted sometimes from twenty to 
thirty in one flower. 
