201 



NOTES ON THE METHODS OF FERTILISATION OF 

 THE GOODENIACE.K 



Part T. 



By Alex. G. Hamiltox. 



(Plate XVI.) 



The remarkable nature of the organs of fertilisation in this 

 order appears to have early attracted the attention of botanists, 

 and there are many allusions to them in works on Australian 

 botany. With one or two exceptions to be noted presently, the 

 early observations appear to have been made on dried specimens, 

 a fact to be deplored, although not to be wondered at when we 

 remember that much of the systematic work was done by English 

 botanists, and that those who actually collected plants in Australia 

 in the early days had such a wealth of new material to work out 

 that they would scarcely have time or inclination to make long 

 continued and close observations. 



The earliest reference which I can find to the subject is by J, 

 Sims in a description of Goodenia grandiflora (1), in which he 

 gives an account of the process, evidently from observation of 

 fresh specimens. This is in the main correct, but he makes the 

 mistake of supposing that the pollen falls from the anthers into 

 the cup instead of being packed, as described in a later paper by 

 me (2). R. Brown has a reference to the subject in his "General 

 Remarks on the Botany of Terra Australis" (3), pointing out that 

 the flowers cannot be impregnated at the time of the bursting of 

 the anthers, but that later on they may be, by the pollen of other 

 flowers, or at a still later stage, by their own. It will be seen in 

 the course of these notes that this is a correct conclusion. C. 



