BY A. G. HAMILTON. 371 



shallow and simple ring of cilia to the perfectly closed and pro- 

 tected cup in D. BroiJonii^ or D. stricta. This makes the fact that 

 the simplest and most open indusium (which may be looked upon 

 as the ancestral form of the genus or near it) is the more remark- 

 able, as it is best adapted for pollination by insects. 



Grant Allen points out [4] that a high development of flower 

 usually goes with a reduction of the number of carpels or seeds, 

 because the plant is certain to be fertilised and so the seeds more 

 likely to arrive at maturity. This theory would appear to be 

 supported by D ampler a. The theory, strongly advocated by the 

 same author, that blue denotes the highest development in a 

 family, agrees well with the facts. Dainpiera is certainly one of 

 the highest developed, if not the very highest, of the order, and 

 as already pointed out blues and purples prevail in the genus. 

 The auricles, too, which are the nivost highly differentiated organs, 

 show the greatest dej^th of colour, and as this colour is hidden 

 from insects and cannot be intended as an attraction, I think it 

 may be fairly inferred that it is a concomitant of the high 

 develojDment. It is significant that the indusium, and the auricles, 

 when present, in other members of the order, often show deep 

 tints of brown, red, and purple. 



The pollen of all the species examined was small, round, and 

 after exposure to the air, dusty, and so is well adapted for falling 

 from the auricles in a shower on a visitor. 



The genus, I think, gives a clue to the purpose of the hairs on 

 the style, and the exterior of the indusium (not the cilia, which 

 have a well defined function as pointed out in a previous paper 

 [5]) in the plants of the Goodeniacete. They occur in Velleya, 

 Goodenm, Sccerola, SeMiera, Leschencmltia, and, slightly, in Bni- 

 nonia. Now in all these the st3de is wholl}^ (or in those species 

 with auricles, partly) exposed to the -air, rain and dew. But the 

 drops collecting in the flower are prevented by the hairs from 

 reaching the indusium and thus damaging the pollen, or clogging 

 it so that it could no longer fall freely. Even in those which 

 have auricles, rain falling on the style would run along to the 

 indusium but for the hairs. But in Dampiera only, the whole 



