When we know that the Egyptians worship the Nile, as the Indians do the Ganges, we cannot wonder that a plant so beautiful, and so abundant in that river, should also become an object of adoration; and we find it continually though roughly engraved on their idols.--Indeed Pierius, in his Hieroglyphics, mentions that the Egyptians worshipped the Lotus as the type of the rising Sun.--It is always found on the statues of Osiris, the Egyptian Apollo; it is also to be seen on the medals struck in Egypt by the Romans, and especially during the reign of Adrian, who held it in such veneration, that the medals which that Emperor caused to be struck in Egypt, in honour of his favourite Antinoüs, uniformly represent the latter with the Lotus on his head; whence the expression “Antinoëan crown.”--Various animals in the Hieroglyphics appear to have it, as the hawk, the lion, and the ram. It is to be seen on most of, though not all, their deities; as Jupiter Ammon, Iris, Serapis, Orus, Canopus, and most particularly on Harpocrates, who is often figured sitting in the midst of it.--See Cuper’s Harpocrates, passim. The Lotus symbolizes Plenty on many of the medals of Egypt and Sicily, probably from being so great an article of food among the inhabitants, and from its generally appearing at the reflux of the Nile, when the banks were again open to the various uses they might be put to. Whether or not the Lotus here figured, which I think I have sufficiently proved to be the true Egyptian one, is the same which grows in the Ganges, and is in such high veneration throughout the continent of India, China, and Japan, can only be proved by a comparison of the two together: certain however it is, that a plant of great similarity to it, if not quite the same, is to be found on most of their idols also; and as the Ganges is worshipped so may the Lotus be, with which it abounds. It expands in the dusk of the evening, and closes about ten in the morning. To the Right Honourable the Marquis of Blandford we are indebted for the description of this very interesting plant, accompanied by a fine living specimen from his splendid collection at White Knights near Reading, Berks. [Illustration] PLATE CCCXCII. IXIA COLUMNARIS, _var. angustifolia_. _Columnar-chived Ixia. Narrowed-leaved Var._ CLASS III. ORDER I. _TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA._ Three Chives. One Pointal. ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. COROLLA sex-petala patens æqualis. Stigmata tria erectiusculo-patula. BLOSSOM 6-petals spreading equal. Summits three upright-spreading. SPECIFIC CHARACTER. IXIA, filamentis basi cohærentibus; floribus subcapitatis, petalis purpureis basi saturatioribus, foliis lineari-ensiformibus. IXIA, with threads united at the base, flowers rather in heads, petals purple with darker bases, and linear-sword-shaped leaves. REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 1. The two valves of the sheath.