In addition to the other attractions of this noble Water Lily, is the
exquisite character of its perfume, which strongly resembles that of a
fresh pineapple just cut open.
The Victoria Regia in the Calcutta Botanic Garden has from some cause or
other not flourished so well as it was expected to do. The largest leaf
is not more than four feet and three quarters in diameter. But there can
be little doubt that when the habits of the plant are better understood
it will be brought to great perfection in this country. I strongly
recommend my native friends to decorate their tanks with this the most
glorious of aquatic plants.
THE FLY-ORCHIS--THE BEE-ORCHIS.
Of these strange freaks of nature many strange stories are told. I
cannot repeat them all. I shall content myself with quoting the
following passage from D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_:--
"There is preserved in the British Museum, a black stone, on which
nature has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer. Stones of
this kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; but
art appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort of
resemblance. There is a species of the orchis found in the mountainous
parts of Lincolnshire, Kent, &c. Nature has formed a bee, apparently
feeding on the breast of the flower, with so much exactness, that it is
impossible at a very small distance to distinguish the imposition.
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