476 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
contrivances all pointing in the opposite direction. The ripening 
of the stigma is delayed, in order that there may be no risk of 
contamination by pollen from the same flower. The summit of 
the style is enlarged to form a suitable stage on which the pollen 
may be presented to the visitors, to whom the task of transferring 
it from flower to flower is entrusted. The perianth segments are 
coiled up, and removed from their path, and a suitable attraction 
is afforded in the shape of an abundant supply of nectar. Surely 
these contrivances would not be provided if some great advantage 
were not expected in return. To my mind, cases similar to those 
of Anightia—and they are probably numerous enough—afford 
additional proof of the truth of Mr. Darwin’s well-known 
aphorism—“ That nature tells us, in the most emphatic manner, 
that she abhors perpetual self-fertilisation.” 
3.—ACCLIMATISATION IN VICTORIA. 
By W. H. D. Le Sousr, Assistant Director of the Zoological 
Society, Melbourne. 
THE subject of Acclimatisation is a record of great successes and 
great failures, and I regret that my experience of the subject tells 
me (and mine is the experience of all interested in this subject) 
that, as a rule, it would have been better for Australia if the 
great successes had been failures and the failures successes. 
Certainly, horses, cattle, and sheep, and, in fact, all domestic 
animals, have proved themselves very much at home in almost all 
parts of Australia, for no portion of the earth’s surface produces 
finer stock or finer wool. 
I do not propose in this brief paper to go into the subject of 
Acclimatisation generally, but only to mention those animals and 
birds that have been introduced into Victoria from other 
countries at different times during the past thirty-five years. I 
am unable to say how long ago it is that the first efforts were 
made in the direction of acclimatisation in Australia, but it most 
likely commenced in the older colony of New South Wales, and 
it is now nearly if not quite fifty years ago since efforts were first 
made to introduce the pheasant into Tasmania, but all efforts 
failed to establish this fine game bird in the island. Here in 
Victoria enthusiastic men, foremost among whom may be men- 
tioned the late Mr. Edward Wilson, the late Mr. Samuel Winter 
of Murndal, and Dr. Thomas Black of St. Kilda, have for many 
years past endeavoured to introduce not pheasants only, but many 
other birds and animals, and, I regret to say, have met with but 
indifferent success. The Zoological and Acclimatisation Society 
of Victoria has also introduced many varieties ; among them may 
be enumerated the alpaca, the Angora goat, the sambur, axis, 
