34 president's address. 



maturation of anthers and stigma, and the relation of these 

 stages to the changes of position in those organs. And, in the 

 case of the birds, the presence of grooves on the beak as pollen- 

 receptacles, the presence of modified feathers for the purpose of 

 retaining pollen-grains, the position the bird takes on approach- 

 ing the flower, and on what part of the body it receives and 

 carries pollen; all these points must be made out before it can 

 be said that we know how a flower is pollinated by birds. 



To succeed in such an inquiry, the observer must have un- 

 limited time and patience. He may have to sit motionless for a 

 long period near the plant being investigated, till the birds gain 

 confidence and approach the flowers; he must have keen sight 

 and a good pair of field-glasses. He needs to camp out in a 

 selected spot, and to be abroad at dawn, when the birds are 

 beginning to feed; and, in addition, since the most precise in- 

 formation is necessaiy with regard to the bird's size, shape of 

 head and beak, and their relation to the parts of the flower, and 

 can only be seen in the bird in the hand, which is proverbially 

 worth two in the bush, he must, repugnant as it may be to a 

 bird-lover, be prepared to sacrifice the lives of some of the 

 pollinators to settle these questions accurately. Jt is a big piece 

 of work, but it is worth the trouble; and a few earnest investi- 

 gators with suflicient time at their disposal would soon produce 

 results which would be of far greater value than the vague state- 

 ments to be found in most of the papers on bird-pollination. It 

 is not that the interest and importance of the subject are un- 

 recognised, but that favourable conditions for carrying out the 

 necessary investigations have been wanting. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



(l).WooLLS, Dr. W. — A Contribution to the Flora of Australia. 



(2). Mueller, H. — The Fertilisation of Flowers, pp. 15, 215. 



(3).SCHIMPER, A. F. W. — Plant Geography, p. 120. 



(4). Bates, H. W. — The Naturalist on the River Amazons, p. 97. 



(5).Kerner — The Natural History of Plants, p. 225. 



(6).MosELEY, H. N. — Notes by a Naturalist on the "Challenger," pp.305, 



469, 605. 

 (7). Hancock — American Naturalist, xxviii., p.679. 

 (8).Knuth, p. — Handbook of Flower Pollination, i., p.73. 

 (9).Rii)()WAY — "The Humming Birds," in Smithsonian Report, 1890, 

 (10). Perkins — -Fauna Hawaiiensis, i., p.368 et seq. 



