246 TlMEHRI. 
.small plants and lift them out of the water to dry in the 
sun, or else push them under as the great trenchers 
spread themselves. The Victoria however belongs to 
the bays of the great rivers and the sheltered water 
below the islands rather than the swamp, which is occu- 
pied by one or two species of Nymphea. These are 
queens of the deeper water where the current is not 
swift. They cover the lagoons with their beautiful leaves 
and decorate them at night with myriads of star-like 
flowers. The water rises and falls, but however deep or 
shallow it may be these plants accommodate themselves 
to it. Sometimes they lie on the mud with hardly any 
stalks at all and as the water rises these become elon- 
gated to twelve feet or more. Both leaf-stalk and flower 
stem are perfectly flexible, as are also the leaves, which 
collapse when the current is strong so as to offer little 
resistance. Notwithstanding its flexibility it is by no 
means weak, but , on the contrary almost like india- 
rubber in texture. Although it may be uprooted it is 
hardly ever torn away. The water-lily does not succeed 
in raising its leaves above the surface of the water, but 
the Indian Nelumbium has acquired this faculty, and 
derives some advantage from it in dry weather. The 
Hydrocleis Humboldtii — that pretty flowering plant with 
three pale yellow petals, so common in estate's trenches — 
however, although in habit a miniature water-lily, accom- 
modates itself to circumstances like the Nelumbian by 
strengthening its flexible leaf-stalks. The leaves stand 
up out of the water, grow upright instead of flat, collect 
more sunlight, and are thus able to compete with the 
next class. 
Leaving those plants which root in the bottom of 
