] 22 
TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
neck arc two brown transverte RtripoH bent forwards. In the month of ! 
August, or September the larva is fully grown, and ready for its change. 
It now leaves the corn-heap and betakes itself to its winter quarters. Th$ | 
crocks and fissures in the floor, in the walls, and in the roof or the granaries, 
are full of larva? at this time ; they gnaw the wood into line chips, from 
which they form themselves a cocoon or pupa-case in the same way us 1 
they previously formed their web. In this ease the larvte remains with¬ 
out taking any nourishment the whole winter. Not till March, April, or 
even May, according as the warm weather sets in, is it transformed into 
[November 28. 
a brown pupa, the posterior part of which is much lighter than the other | 
part, ana the last segment of which is provided with two points. In 
about three weeks the pupa pushes itself by means of these points nearly 
half out of its case ; and in about half an hour afterwards the skin splits 
and the moth comes out.— (Treatise on Inserts.) 
When grain is affected with this grub, the most effectual remedy is to ' 
submit the grain for some hours to a heat of about 200°. This kills the \ 
grub, but the grain is afterwards just as good for grinding, and probably 
for sowing too, as if it had not been thus heated. , 
What the Baobab is among trees, and the Rqfjlcsia 
Arnoldii is among parasites, the Victoria Lotus, or Water 
Lily, stands forth among the water plants. It is the 
foremost, the most beautiful, and the sweetest of all that 
dwell within the waters, and, therefore, fitly dedicated to 
our Island Queen. Not ono of the least extraordinary 
facts connected with this sovereign of the Water lilies is 
that, familiar to Europeans as have been the products 
of South America for some centuries, traversed as have 
been her rivers, ransacked as have been her mountains 
and streams for their natural productions, and though 
the seeds of this very plant were known in her markets, 
yet this, one of the monarchs of the vegetable world, was 
not even indistinctly known until the year 1827. 
We have now before us an appropriate biography of 
this beautiful aquatic, in one of the most elegant little 
volumes recently issued from the press. It is entitled, 
The lioyal Water Lily of South America, and the Water 
Lilies of our ou n Land; their History and Cultivation. 
Its author is Mr. Lawson, to whom our pages are 
indebted for a monthly comment on our “Wild Flowers.” 
We recommend it without any reservation to our readers, 
for they will find iu it all that is at present known rela¬ 
tive to the Victoria Lotus, with some very good coloured 
illustrations of its appearance, and of the appearance of 
our native Water lilies when floating in their appro¬ 
priate element. 
The Victoria Lotus, as is stated by Mr. Rowcrby, has 
been noticed under the six following names by the 
authors, and at the dates attached to them :— 
“ Euryale Amcizonica, Poeppig, 1832; Nymphtea Victoria, 
Schomburgk, 1837 ; Victoria Regina , Gray, 1837 ; Victoria 
Regain ('Gray) ? 1837; Victoria Regia, Lindley, 1837— 
Hooker, 18-40 ; Victoria Cruziana, D’Orbigny, 1840. It is 
clear that the oldest of these names is Euryale Axnazonica 
(and unless it be thought proper to accept the provincial 
names, one of them must be employed) ; now, therefore, 
that it is found that the plant does not belong to the genus 
Euryale, anil that it forms the type of a new genus, the 
specific name Amazonica ought to be retained, or rather it 
ought never to have been altered. As for the ‘ permission 
of her Majesty,’ our loyalty need not to be alarmed, for it 
appears most probable that the ‘permission’ only applied 
to the name Victoria along with the generic name Nymphaia 
in Sir R. Scliomburgk’s letter before it was revised, llegina 
being an afterthought. Her Majesty will not be offended 
by that name being adopted which is most in accordance 
with accepted rules. I would, therefore, call it Victoria Ama¬ 
zonica. The Victoria Cruziana of D’Orbigny is supposed to 
be only a variety.” 
Now, as the new flower is certainly not an Euryale, 
and there are sufficient distinctive characters to separate 
it from the old Nymphata, there can be no objection to 
the next generic name, Victoria, even if founded only 
upon the claim of botanical precedence. However, a 
big-endian-and-little-endian controversy has arisen as 
to the right, founded on the order of time, of calling it 
regia, or regina —a dispute so important that we shall not 
venture to intrude into the contest. 
Regia, meaning royal, we shall venture to use it as 
the most appropriate, until wo are convinced that by so 
doing we shall be guilty of botanical heresy, and will 
now leave such weighty matters to make room for what 
is more agreeable, a sketch of the history of the plant. 
Victoria regia, the Royal Victoria Water Lotus, is 
found in some of the far inland and still waters con¬ 
nected with the branches of the Rivers Plate and Ama- 1 
zon; and the first botanist whose heart was gladdened 1 
by its discovery was M. Heenke; he found it on the 
marshy banks of the River Mamoro, somewhere about 
the year 1801; but M. ILenke was added to the martyrs 
of science, and almost the only note of his discovery will 
he found in the following extract from the papers of a 
subsequent discoverer:— 
“ In the year 1827, M. A. D’Orbigny discovered this vege¬ 
table wonder on the river Parana, at a part of this ‘ majestic 
stream ’ nearly a league in breadth, although distant 000 
miles from its junction with the Rio Plata. He communi¬ 
cated specimens, along with his other collections, to the 
Museum of Natural History at Paris, in the same year. He 
gives a very interesting account of the Victoria Water lily, 
and also of another allied plant, which he supposes to be a 
distinct species, although we feel more inclined to follow the 
general opinion of botanists in considering it a variety only, 
more especially since Mr. Spruce has recently observed 
different flowers from the same root, varying in their appear¬ 
ance, and uniting the characters of Victoria Re’gia and M. 
D’Orbigny’s second species, for which he proposes the name 
of Victoria Cruziana. To the Botanical Magazine ore we in¬ 
debted for M. D’Orbigny’s remarks in an English dress, and 
these are withal so interesting, besides containing almost all 
the information that is known concerning the supposed 
second species, that we must introduce them here at full 
length. He says :—‘ If there exists in the animal kingdom 
creatures whose size, compared with our own, commands ad¬ 
miration by their enormous stature ; if we also gaze with 
wonder on the giants of the vegetable kingdom, wo may well 
take especial pleasure in surveying-jmy peculiarly wonderful 
species of those genera of plants which are already known to 
us only in more moderate dimensions. I shall endeavour to 
express not only my own feelings, but those of MM. Bon- 
pland and Hamke, for we were all alike struck with profound 
emotion on beholding the two species of Victoria which form 
the subject of this note. For eight months I had been in¬ 
vestigating, in all directions, the province of Corrientes, 
when, early in 1827, descending the river Parana, in a frail 
pirogue, I arrived at a part of this nmjestie stream where, 
though more than !)()() miles distant from its junction with 
the Rio Plata, its breadth yet nearly attained a league. The 
surrounding scenery was in keeping with this splendid river; i 
all was on a grand and imposing scale, and being myself, 
only accompanied by two Guarani Indians, I silently content- i 
plated the wild and lovely view around me ; and I must con- ; 
fess that, amid all this watery waste, I longed for some vege ¬ 
tation on which my eye might rest, and longed in vain! j 
Ere long, reaching a place called the Arroyo de San Jose, I 
observed that the marshes on either side the river were 
bordered with a green and floating surface; and the Guaranis 
told me that they called the plant in question ‘Yrup4,’ 
literally water-platter, from g, water, and rupi, a dish. Its 
general aspect reminded me of our Nenuphar, belonging 
