88 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
ages of association the plant has become adapted to such a 
degree that it cannot be pollinated by any other means in 
nature and at the same time the insect has become so adapted 
that it cannot carry on its life history with any other plant. 
To quote from one authority: “The insect offers such a 
remarkable instance of special modification of parts to a 
particular end, and there is such a striking interdependence 
between it and its food-plant that Hermann Mueller, who 
from his extensive studies of the relations between plants 
and insects, is most competent to speak on the subject, 
avowed it to be the ‘most wonderful instance of mutual 
adaptation’ yet detected.” These are in brief the facts that 
have been brought to light and may be observed by anyone 
who will take the time and have the patience to watch the 
snowy little insects on any clear, warm evening. 
It is of especial interest to know that many of the original 
observations, both of Dr. Engelmann and Dr. Riley, were 
made at the Missouri Botanical Garden through the kind- 
ness and encouragement of its founder, Mr. Shaw. 
PLANTS FROM AUSTRALIA. 
A collection of plants just received from Australia is of 
more than usual interest. This includes four Macrozamia 
Moorei, two male and two female; two Cycas media, one 
male and one female; two Macrozamia spiralis (possibly 
M. Miquelii), one male and one female; six large, six 
medium, and twenty-four small plants of Bowenia serrulata; 
all of which were secured from the vicinity of Rockhamp- 
ton, through the kindness of Professor R. Simmons, Curator 
of the Botanic Garden, Rockhampton, Queensland, Aus- 
tralia. The shipment was three months on the way, but 
the plants were so well po (see plate 12) that they not 
only suffered no injury but in some cases continued to grow. 
These plants belong to the family Cycadaceae, of which 
Cycas revoluta, the so-called “funeral,” or “sago palm,” is 
the best known example. Perhaps the most interesting of 
the lot received is Macrozamia Moorei, a plant which is rarely 
found in botanical gardens and is rapidly being extermi- 
nated in the field because of a poison contained in the leaves, 
- causing a paralysis of the cattle which eat it. At Spring- 
sure, the only known locality for Macrozamia Moorei, a 
notch is first chopped in the trunk of the plant and then a 
hole bored in the center. This is filled with arsenic, killing 
the cycad within a short time. 
