BY E. HAYILAXD. G17 



it the stamens ; leaving tlie pistil Lehind on the plant, with the 

 stigma not mature, and o£ course, the ovules not impregnated. 

 In fact it is a very difficult thing, i£ the pollen is fully ripe, to 

 keep the corolla on the plant while examining it. 



I had visited one of the swamps at Botany, where the flowers 

 of this plant were in great abundance ; but to my surprise on a 

 second visit a week later, I could not find a siugle specimen. As 

 however, there had in the meantime, been heavy rain and wind, 

 and knowing how^ easily the corollas w^ere detached, I assumed 

 that they had been beaten off by the storm ; but at a short 

 •distance away, at another swam]), I found a few plants in flower, 

 within a small space. I therefore cut a few rough pegs and 

 marked the ground round them, for it is very difiicult to find 

 this plant when it is not in flower. I returned to the spot a few 

 days latter and saw at once that if I had not taken the precaution 

 to mark the ground, I should not have found it again, for the 

 flowers had all disappeared, although there had been no rain or 

 bad weather in the interim. I succeeded, however, in finding- 

 several of the plants, but in each of them the peduncle merely 

 bore the calyx and pistil. The corolla with the stamens and 

 pollen had in every case disappeared. In none of them was the 

 stigma mature, or near maturity. I could only then come to the 

 conclusion that if the ovules of these plants were to be fertilized 

 at all it must be by the pollen of other flowers. 



The fertilization of Australian plants, so far as I can learn, is 

 a subject that has not received much attention. At all events, it 

 is a subject that has not been written about, if we except what 

 has been said by Mr. Fitzgerald in his valuable and beautiful work 

 on the Australian Orchids. But it is a subject replete with 

 interest, requiring however, great care not to arrive at hasty 

 conclusions. In very many cases, where the most careful 

 provision appears to have been made to ensure self-fertilization, 

 we shall, I think, find upon more careful and searching examin- 

 ation, that the reverse has been intended. The mere fact that 



