THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 51 



tachrys, named and collected in the last century by Ehrkart, one 

 of Linnaeus' disciples at Upsala ; plants recently collected in the 

 Malayan Peninsula, and described by Brigade-Surgeon Dr. G. 

 King, Director of the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta ; new species 

 from S. W. Australia, Eucalyptus Ivruseana, named in honour of 

 Mr. J. Kruse, remarkable for its small orbicular apposite leaves ; 

 Claytonia Battii, discovered lately by Mr. J. D. Batt (new for 

 Victoria) ; Olax striola, obtained on the Cann River by Mr. John 

 Cameron, the first of an order of plants, Olacinese, new to Victoria. 

 After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



THE DISPERSAL OF MISTLETOE. 



By H. p. C. Ashworth. 



(Read before Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 8th April, 1895.^ 



The wide prevalence of parasitic mistletoes high up in the 

 branches of even our loftiest eucalypts is noteworthy, and 

 although it has long been known that birds are the agents in 

 dispersing the seeds, still the extent to which one small bird 

 contributes does not seem to have been recognized. The bird 

 referred to is the pretty little Swallow Dicoeum, Dicoeum hirun- 

 dinacetim, which, so far as my observations go, seems to be the 

 exclusive agent in Australia. 



The general facts of the inter-relation of plants and animals are 

 now fairly well understood, the broad deductions being that by 

 the process of variation and natural selection all our brightest 

 flowers have been evolved to attract insects to fertilize them, 

 and our most delicious fruits to entice birds and mammals to eat 

 them and disperse their seeds. As an instance of the latter, 

 Wallace cites the case of the nutmug. which is eaten by Fruit Pigeons 

 for the sake of the mace surrounding it, this latter being merely 

 an adventitious growth to attract attention. The nutmeg passes 

 through the bird's body and germinates where it falls. 



In Europe the chief agent in the dispersal of mistletoe appears 

 to be the Mistletoe or Missel Thrush, Turdus viscivorus, the 

 specific name of which, signifying " mistletoe-eating," was given 

 to it by Linnaeus on that account ; indeed, it was long thought 

 that this bird was a sort of foster-parent to the mistletoe, and 

 that the seeds would not germinate unless they had first passed 

 through its body. The European mistletoe (Viscus) has a soft 

 skin, and is eaten by the birds whole, but our mistletoes belong 

 to the genus Loranthus, the seeds of which are encased in a hard 

 capsule, and the wonderful adaptation of the Swallow Dicoeum 

 to the role of extracting them is remarkable. The fruit of the 

 mistletoe ripens about the month of May, and the Swallow Dicoeum 

 then appears in large numbers. Intent on observing them, 

 I set off one day with a telescope to the junction of Gardiner's 



