52 



Bock, in 1879, and it is surmised by those who have studied 

 the subject most thoroughly that the race is now exhausted, 

 and doomed to extinction in all probability. 



The President made some remarks on the growth of 

 EverlastiDg Flowers in the neighbourhood of Manchester, 

 illustrated by five common Australian species, namely, 

 Ammohium alatum, Helichrysum hxiceatum and HeMpte- 

 rum Manglesii, roseum and corymhiflorum. 



He said the summer of 1884 was unusally favourable to 

 the growth and perfection of these flowers. The flower- 

 heads were continually visited by crowds of winged insects 

 of various kinds, which evidently found some strong attrac- 

 tion in the bracts of the involucre rather than in the florets ; 

 the insects were hive-bees, several specimens of wasp, drone 

 flies, hoverers, ichneumon flies, house-flies, and others, and 

 late in the season large numbers of gay butterflies, and these 

 were constantly present. The hygrometric properties of the 

 bracts were noticed in all the species, the flower-head im- 

 mediately closing on the commencement of rain, and it was 

 especially remarkable in Helipterum roseum from the fact 

 that the part affected by damp was at the line of junction 

 of the petal-like lamina with the claw at the base. It was 

 shown that the dry bracts of the expanded flower-head of 

 this species when damped, merely by being breathed upon, 

 immediately turn up as if on a hinge, and the united action 

 of all the bracts is to form a perfect conical tent over the 

 central florets. It was concluded that the use of the in- 

 volucre is evidently to protect the florets from damp, and it 

 might be a subject for reflection why such a special con- 

 trivance should be required by plants inhabiting a country 

 whose summer climate is so dry as that of Australia ; and it 

 would not seem unreasonable to suppose that these plants 

 could not possibly be cultivated in the open air in this 



