THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
48 
A New Variety of Water Lily. 
The white water lily is the floral 
emblem of The Agassiz Association. 
We are therefore interested in anything 
pertaining to this beautiful flower. We 
are grateful to “Gardeners’ Chronicle” 
for lending the accompanying cut of 
a new water lily, “Mrs. Edward Whit- 
aker,” with petals of a delicate blue and 
stamens a golden yellow. This was 
exhibited by George H. Pring, flori- 
The Revelations of a Knot Hole. 
BY W. H. H. BARKER, M. D., HARVEY, IOWA. 
Many years ago the writer, sitting 
in a closed room on a sunny day, ob- 
served a keen beam of sunlight that, 
streaming through a knot hole in the 
weather boarding and wall of the room, 
fell on the floor at his feet, and there 
made a distinct spot of light. Glancing 
at this bright spot he noted that it 
was almost circular. Wondering at its 
A BASKET BOUQUET OF THE NEW' WATER LILY, MRS. EDWARD WHITAKER. 
With petals of a delicate blue, shading into a deeper blue, and stamens a golden yellow, exhibited 
by George H. Pring, floriculturist of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and awarded 
the National Association of Gardeners’ gold medal at the convention in St. Louis. 
culturist of the Missouri Botanical 
Garden, and by the National Associa- 
tion of Gardeners was awarded a gold 
medal at the convention in St. Louis. 
In the cut the petals appear to be a 
beautiful white. Light blue sometimes 
in a photograph makes a better white 
than a pure white does. 
'Twas a stately banquet, as we saw at a 
glance, 
Our own fair lilies, the lilies of France, 
And, fresh from their purlieus, protected 
from cold. 
Rare orchids of crimson, and orchids of gold. 
— Emma Peirce. 
perfect figure, he cast his eye upward 
to find the opening through which the 
light entered, and was surprised to 
see an aperture that was small and 
irregular in shape. It seemed an 
anomaly. Close observation repeated 
under many conditions brought out the 
fact that sunlight, at any time of day, 
entering an aperture and falling on a 
level surface at some distance from the 
point of entrance, does not take the 
form of the aperture but has a tendency 
to obliterate the angles and to round 
them into curves. Let any one inter- 
ested note the dancing sunlight that 
