Letters, Extracts, Notices, 6fc. 301 



that birds, in some cases, perform the same functiou is, 

 we believe, a new discovery. In ' Nature ' for January last 

 (vol.li. p. 235) Mr. Maurice S. Evans, writing from Durban, 

 Natal, gives some interesting details as to the mode of ferti- 

 lization of two species of parasitic plants of the genus 

 Loranthus — L. kranssi and L. dregei — which grow on trees 

 in that district. It appears that the fecundation of Loranthus 

 kraussi is entirely due to the labours of two species of Sun- 

 birds, Cinnyris olivaceus and C. verreauxi {cf. Sharpens ed. 

 of Layard^s Birds of S. Afr. pp. 309, 310), which frequent 

 these flowers in great numbers. '' A little quiet watching,'' 

 says Mr. Evans, " will show the birds at these flowers, 

 splitting open flower after flower, and getting head and bill 

 covered with pollen in moving about, undoubtedly fertilizing 

 the capitate receptive stigmas of other and older flowers." 

 In order to ascertain whether the flowers of the Loranthus 

 would be fertilized without the aid of the Sun-birds, Mr. 

 Evans covered a small branch of them containing from 80 to 

 100 blossoms with a net, and found that not one of the 

 blossoms so covered set seed. After cai'eful watching he 

 came to the conclusion that this Loranthus is quite sterile, 

 without the external aid supplied by the birds. After the 

 fruit is ripe another bird, a Barbet, Barhatula pusilla, further 

 assists the propagation of the Loranthus by eating the 

 covering of the berry and rejecting the seeds and the viscid 

 matter around them. To clear away these the Barbet wipes 

 its bill upon a branch, to which the seeds of the Loranthus 

 adhere by the viscid matter and germinate. 



Somewhat similar facts are related by Mr. Evans respecting 

 the mode of fecundation of a second species of Loranthus, 

 L. dregei, which grows on the coastlands of Natal, usually 

 parasitic upon an introduced syringa, Melia azadarach. 

 He believes that this plant also is '' absolutely dependent " 

 on the Sun-birds Cinnyris olivacea and C. verreauxi for its 

 sexual propagation. 



Obituary. — Mr. Alfred Forbes Sealy, one of the founders 

 of the B.O.U., died recently in India. Possessed of a private 



SER. VII. VOL. I. Y 



