a very famous plant amongst the ancients, but the name is applied to several different species. See signallizes eleven. The most celebrated is that from which the Lotophagi (or lotus-eaters) were designated. It grew in the Syrtic region of Africa, and is described by Polybius as a thorny shrub, with berries about the size of an olive, which were at first white, but afterwards acquired a red tinge. The taste of these resembled that of dates, and was supposed to have the property, when eaten, of causing strangers to forget their native country. Hence the proverb of "tasting the lotus," as applied to those who travel far and neglect their own land. Modern travellers and botanists identify the plant now referred to as the *Zizyphus lotus*, found in Tunis and other parts of Africa. Park describes the berry as very sweet and affording a liquor, as was the case with the ancient lotus. When the fruit was ground into meal, baked into cakes, and dried in the sun, he found it to be delicious to the taste. It is the opinion of Mundy, however, that the true lotus tree of the ancients is the *Nitraria tridentata*, found in the desert of Soussa, near Tunis, producing a succulent fruit having stimulating qualities.

The lotus of the Egyptians is the *Nelumbium speciosum* of botanists (or sacred water-bean), supposed to have been the Pythagorean bean, from which he charged his followers to abstain. The blue species, often found sculptured on the walls of Egyptian temples, is, in all probability, the *Nymphaea caerulea*. Both the seed and the root of the former were used for food by the inhabitants. The plant appears frequently in the hieroglyphic representations of the rites of Isis and Osiris, to whom it was sacred, and was regarded as an emblem of the creation of the world from water. It was considered symbolical of the Nile, as the Indian lotus was of the Ganges.