754 POLLINATION OF DARWINIA FASCICULARIS, 



of their existence. As they do so, the lobes of the corolla fit round 

 the lower part of the style, and may give some measure of support 

 to this upstanding part of the flower. 



The stamens are protandrous, ripening before the style begins to 

 elongate, and just before the flower opens. They are in two 

 whorls, each of the upper ones being placed in the middle of the 

 corolla-lobes, the lower stamens occurring each at the junction of 

 two of the lobes. The anthers are bent forward towards the centre 

 of the tube ; the benefit of this arrangement of the stamens will be 

 pointed out later. If young anthers are placed on the micro-slide 

 and mounted in water, and the cover-slip gently pressed, the pol- 

 len-sacs, four, may be plainly seen ; in more mature anthers, there 

 are only two loculi of the normal anther. The fibrous layer is 

 beautifully shown, as is also the tapetal layer, which is dis- 

 appearing. 



Mr. Bentham (Fl. Austr., iii., 6), from the examination of 

 herbarium-specimens, includes among the generic characters of 

 Darwinia : "Style exserted, usually long, and more or less bearded 

 towards the end." By the late Mr. E. Haviland, the bearded por- 

 tion was thus described: "Immediately below the stigma is a ring 

 of stiff hair-like glands, which secrete an adhesive fluid copiously" ; 

 and he suggested that these hairs secreted nectar, which was seen 

 as a globule round the tuft of hairs, and which was carried up by 

 the elongating style. I had found, on examining many buds, that 

 these hairs extended across the flower so as to reach the anthers; 

 and that just before the flower opens, the anthers give out a viscous 

 mass in which the pollen-grains are embedded; and that it is this 

 mass which adheres to the substigmatic tuft of hairs which extends 

 between the two whorls of anthers, and is carried up by the 

 elongating style. By this means, the pollen is placed in a very 

 conspicuous position ; and this fact, together with the colour of the 

 flower-clusters, suggested bird-visitors, as the agents which caused 

 cross-pollination. On examining the stigmas of young flowers 

 under the microscope, I found that there were numerous, trans- 

 parent, rounded protuberances over their surfaces. On examining 

 mature stigmas, I found that there was a general enlargement of 



