104 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OK GLASGOW. 



parakeets or lories in the Malaj^an Archipelago, 

 and the honey-eaters in Australia, visit flowers and 

 effect cross-fertilisation prett}^ much .as bees and 

 butterflies do in Europe. The bird-fertilised class 

 includes species of Fuchsia, Passijfora, Salvia, Ahuti- 

 lon, Impatiens, Lobelia, Marcgravia, Erythrina, Cassia, 

 etc. Ornithophilous flowers are generally of large 

 size and tubular form, and secrete abundant nectar. 

 Their colours are extremelj^ brilliant, scarlet being 

 perhaps the most frequent. Such flowers are rarely 

 produced by herbaceous plants. They occur as a rule 

 only on shrubs and trees. There are no authentic 

 cases of Cryptogams being dispersed by birds, though 

 doubtless this may occasionally happen. Birds' 

 feathers are at least liable to be attacked and 

 destroyed by certain fungi. 



Birds, however, play an important part in the 

 dissemination of many Phanerogams. Where this 

 mode of dispersion is employed, the adaptation is seen 

 in the succulence, sweet taste, and bright colour of 

 the fruit, and in the hardness, bitter taste, and 

 emetic or purgative properties of the seed. Many 

 of our native birds live to a large extent upon the 

 succulent pulp of baccate and stone-fruits. The 

 stones or seeds may either be rejected, or they may 

 be swallowed and pass through the intestines of the 

 bird uninjured. This ordeal would even seem to 

 benefit the seed by facilitating its germination. It 

 has at least been asserted on reliable authority that 

 nutmegs which are swallowed by pigeons for the 

 sake of the mace thrive much better if dropped by 

 the birds than when planted by man. Onlj' in a 

 few cases is the succulent layer developed on the 

 seed itself. A succulent testa occurs, however, in the 

 IJOinegranate (Punica Granatum), in the gooseberry 

 {Ribes Grossularia), in Iris fa'tidissima. Magnolia, and 

 several others. The yew (Taxus), the passion-flower 

 (Passiflora), and one or two others have a succulent 

 aril around the seed. More commonly the pericarp 

 is the succulent portion. Drupes have onlj' the 



