president's address. 33 



adapted to that. Now were these old Proteads (and notwith- 

 standing what I have said above, I believe that there were 

 archaic Proteads) bird-pollinated, and if so, what were the birds 

 concerned? If an inflorescence of a fossil Banksia is known, it 

 might be easy to say whether it was likely to have been so 

 pollinated. And, in that case, I should like to ask the palieon- 

 tologists whether there ai-e any Tertiary birds known, which 

 would be likely to have been the ancestors of any of the three 

 great groups of pollinators— Humming-birds, Sun-birds, and the 

 Honey-eaters of Australia? 



I have said enough to show that the bird-pollination of Aus- 

 tralian flowers is a large and interesting problem awaiting solu- 

 tion in detail. Some of the questions that need answering are 

 the following. Are the colours of the flowers adapted to attract 

 birds? It is generally taken for granted that bird-pollinated 

 flowers are of brilliant colours, mostly reds. But closer acquaint- 

 ance with the habits of the birds leads one to think that the 

 brilliant colours may not be necessary to attract them. Our 

 honey-eaters seem to visit any flower that ofters them a plenti- 

 tude of honey. Again, are the tubular flowers specially adapted 

 to birds with long bills like the Meliphagidae? Here, T think 

 the answer will incline towards the afiirmative, but nevertheless 

 the fact that they go to shallow flowers, like Eucalyptus and 

 Xanthorrhcea, seems to point to the same conclusion— that the 

 shapes of flowers do not matter greatly, if there is abundance of 

 nectar. Are there any other factors that are significant— scent, 

 for example ? These questions can only be finally settled by long- 

 continued observation of the birds and the flowers they frequent. 



The next point (or perhaps it should be the first) to be settled 

 is the actual method of pollination. Knuth(8) says: — "It must 

 be the aim of research in pollination to make out the adaptation 

 of all flowers and their pollinators, and this can only be ap- 

 proached if such investigations are systematically carried out, 

 and in as many small and clearly demarcated areas as possible." 

 Now the points regarding adaptation wJiich have to be observed 

 are many. The shape and colour of the corolla, the presence 

 and amount of nectar, the scent, the length and position of the 

 stamens and style, at various stages of anthesis, the time of 



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