544 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



arrangements for the fertilization of the flowers, by insects and 

 other agents, are described ; and it is interesting to know that out 

 of the 104 species above-mentioned, 93 are fertilized by insects, 

 the remainder being self-fertilized. 



I am glad to see that this subject has also been taken up by 

 another of our members, Mr. E. Haviland, who has contributed 

 several papers, giving the result of his observations upon certain 

 plants indigenous to the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney. 

 When the processes have been discovered by which the varied, 

 beautiful and to us useful forms of plant life are developed, who 

 shall say what benefits may not result in the production of im- 

 proved varities of fodder plants, cereals, fruits, and flowers, when 

 these processes, which are now dependent upon the instincts of 

 insects, &c, shall have been directed by the intelligence of man. 

 What has already been accomplished in this direction warrants the 

 belief that this is one of the most important subjects that can 

 engage the attention of Naturalists. 



An English translation by D'Arcy W. Thompson, B.A., of 

 Professor Hermann Muller's great work on the Fertilization of 

 Flowers, has been published during the past year. The value of 

 this translation is perhaps enhanced from the fact that the 

 systematic part of the book, which is arranged on Endlicher's 

 system in the German edition, has been re-arranged according to 

 Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum. In reference to 

 cross-fertilization Professor Muller says :— " The good effect of 

 cross-fertilization may be recognized, not only in the structure of 

 insect-fertilized flowers, but also in the water-fertilized and the 



wind-fertilized plants which preceeded them Insects 



in cross-fertilizing flowers endow them with an offspring which in 

 the struggle for existence vanquish those individuals of the same 

 species which are the offspring of self-fertilization. The insects 

 must therefore operate by selection in the same way as do 

 unscientific cultivators among men, who preserve the most 

 pleasing or most useful specimens, and reject or neglect the others m 

 In both cases selection in course of time brings those variations to 

 perfection* which correspond to the tastes or to the needs of the 

 selective agent. Different groups of insects, according to their 



