BY REV. W. WOOLLS, PH.D. F.L.S. 457 



wilds. The flowers of Boronia pinnata (Sm.) are liable to variation 

 in size and colour, and appear according to Mr. Beatham to be 

 sexually dimorphous; and therefore it seems probable that they 

 may yet be found with the filaments in a transition state. The 

 Rev. L. P. Atkin, M.A., reports that the native Convolvulus {G . 

 eruhescens (Sims.) has occasionally double flowers, and the writer 

 of these remarks has found Wahlenbergia gracilis (A. Dc.) in a 

 similar condition, which is still more remarkable, as the species so 

 soon loses its stamens after flowering. But hexe again analogy leads 

 to the supposition that such might be the case, especially when 

 species are under cultivation, as the allied genus Campanula has 

 several varieties with double flowers. In considering this subject 

 it is evident that much remains to be learned as to the causes of 

 the phenomenon itself, for though it is usually said that it arises 

 from " hybridization aided by cultivation," it is evident from the 

 examples quoted, that in Australia native plants sometimes become 

 double without any cultivation ; whilst again it is a fact that some 

 genera are more susceptible of such eccentricity than others. It 

 would be interesting to ascertain how far the introduction of 

 foreign bees into Australia may have contributed to produce 

 double flowers, for, as far as I am aware, none of the early 

 Botanists have made any allusion to them, Sir W. Macarthur 

 having been the first to notice the double Epacris purpurascens, 

 and Baron F. von Mueller the first to record the fact respecting 

 that and another species of the same genus (Frag. Phyt. Aust., 

 Vol. VIII., p. 56). Bees are well known to exercise a wonderful 

 influence on cultivated plants, and it is probably due to their 

 carrying the pollen of one kind of flower to another, that, in 

 certain cucurbitaceous species, some of the favourite varieties of 

 former days have died out. Some of the monstrosities and strange 

 appearances in flowers ai-e in point of fact diseases occasioned by 

 the ravages of insects ; and fasciateci, branches which result from an 

 abnormal development of the leaf buds, arise from accident or some 

 \inknown cause. Amongst cultivated plants Xylophylla longifoUa 

 (Linn.) and Gelosia cristata (Willd.) aff'ord instances of this strange 

 growth, and amongst the wild flowers in the neighbourhood of 



