150 Transactions of tJie [Sess. 



an increased interest in the study of Ornithology, amidst whose 

 numerous families there are few more deserving of notice, or more 

 calcidated to repay any little trouble expended upon them, than the 

 Sylviidas, or Warblers. 



At this meeting Mr D. Percy Aitken read a short note on the use 

 of carbonised paper in taking leaf-impressions, called forth by Mr 

 TurnbuU's communication to the December meeting on the same 

 subject. Mr Aitken also exhibited a small roller-machine which had 

 been used in taking similar impressions. 



VII.— ON THE STRUCTURE AND POLLINATION OF THE 

 FLOWER OF GALATHEA ZEBRINA. 



Bt J. M. MACFARLANE, D.Sc. 



(Feb. 28, 1884.) 



Dr J. M. Macfarlane gave a short account of the structure and 

 mode of pollination of the floAver of Calathea zebrina, Meyer, as 

 observed from specimens in the Eoyal Botanic Garden, and which 

 agreed with the previous accounts given by Hildebrand and Nichol- 

 son. He showed that in addition to the petals, certain of the 

 stamens assumed a petaloid character, one in particular being rounded 

 and pouch-like at its free extremity. Against the pouch-like extrem- 

 ity the end of the style strongly pressed — the under surface of the 

 latter, near the anterior end, having a saddle-shaped depression, which 

 received the pollen from the single anther-lobe before flowering ; 

 while the stigma constituted the tip of the style. On an insect 

 visiting the flower, he showed that the style, when delicately touched, 

 coiled up with great force, causing first the stigma and next the 

 pollen to be driven against the insect's body, so that the stigma first 

 received pollen brought by the insect from another flower, and new 

 pollen was next deposited on its body. After coiling up, the style 

 rapidly lost its purple-white colour, and assumed a rich brown hue, 

 so that flowers already visited by insects were at once recognised by 

 those succeedmg. 



