14 president's address. 



subtends the small blue flowers has its apical half pure white, 

 thus throwing up the flowers by contrast And again, while 

 calyces are usually dull in colour, we often find that where there 

 is no corolla, the calyx is brilliantly coloured: and where both 

 calyx and corolla are wanting, bracts and spathes (as in 

 Bougainvillea and Aroids) have conspicuous colours. I certainly 

 think that the theory of colour-recognition by insects is sup- 

 ported by sufticient evidence. 



In Darwin's Forms of Flowers (2), there is a list of fifty genera 

 of plants having cleistogamous flowers. Fifteen of these genera 

 extend to Australia, but, so far as I know, cleistogamous flowers 

 have been recorded in only two of them, ThfiIymitra(S), and Pavo- 

 nia, and in addition, in I/ypoxis(i). Among the Orchids, there 

 are one or two other genera which are either cleistogamous or 

 chasmogamous {Calochilus). Are cleistogamous flowers found 

 in any of our native species of Eraiithemnm, RiielUa, Viola, 

 Oxalis, Lespedeza, Glycine, Drosera, Jn.nciix, or Commelyua ? I 

 have not been able to And any in Ey-anthemum Viola, or Oxalis. 



Little, that is definite, is on record about the pollination of 

 Eucalyptus, or, with one exception, of Acacia. I looked up both 

 Orders in Hermann Miiller's and Knuth's books, and was greatly 

 astonished to find that neither book has any reference at all to 

 the Myrtacese. The Order seems to have been passed over by 

 inquirers into pollination methods. And very few observations 

 are recorded on Acacia. In the case of Eucalyptus, we know 

 tljat the flowers are visited by the brush-tongued lories, and by 

 sonie of the honey-eaters. In a paper by Mr Swinnerton(5) "On 

 Short Cuts by Birds to Nectaries," being observations made in 

 South Africa, he mentions E ficifolia as being visited by Sun- 

 birds, and also by other birds, as well as insects. He believes 

 that, in South Africa, this species is chiefly pollinated by hive 

 bees, and Sphingidje. The Eucalyptus flower being of a shallow, 

 open type, with much nectar, it seems rather extraordinary that 

 it should be pollinated by Sphinges. The lories, having a short 

 tongue, are certainly well adapted for the work, but I should 

 have thought that slender-billed birds, and long-tongued moths 

 would not be likely to pollinate the flowers. 



