208 BEPOKT— 1891. 



rankly and flowered well, but gave little or no fruit. As the 

 same variety fruited well in other parts, Mr. Martin attributed 

 the change to the presence or absence of certain constituents 

 in the soil ; and this is the explanation commonly given, 

 although, I think, without any justification in actual experi- 

 ence. I am inclined to refer the whole question of fertility and 

 of so-called "shy bearing," not in strawberries alone, but in 

 all other plants cultivated for their fruit or seeds, to the 

 presence or absence of suitable insects. Of all the insects 

 recorded as visiting strawberry flowers in Europe, only the 

 honey-bee is to be found in New Zealand, but I have never 

 seen it or indeed any other insect on these blossoms, nor have 

 I any record of them from other observers who have looked out 

 for them ; so that I am of opinion that self-fertilisation is 

 the chief mode by which fruit is obtained in the colony. 

 Dioecious varieties do occur, however, and, unless eradicated, 

 constantly tend to be reproduced by runners, and occasionally, 

 no doubt, by cross-fertilisation by bees, &c. 



Other cases of apparent tendency to change are the constant 

 production of self-fertilised (almost cleistogamic) winter flowers 

 of chickweed {Stellaria media) and mouse-ear (Cerastium), of 

 self-fertilised closed flowers of groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), and 

 of absolutely cleistogamic varieties of violets (F. odorata). As 

 these peculiarities are, however, all more or less produced in 

 Britain, they cannot be looked upon as being more than in- 

 tensified here. 



As a final example of apparent change in introduced plants, 

 I would instance the remarkable increase of whin or gorse 

 (JJlcx) in the total absence of fertilising insects. I took par- 

 ticular note of the winter and early-spring flowering of this 

 plant in Otago. In Europe it flowers in February and March, 

 and again in August and September. In Otago it flowers 

 nearly all the year round, reaching its maximum in October 

 and November. I carefully observed a large number of plants 

 in flower during June and July last, looking over them several 

 times every day. The weather was warm, brilliant, and calm, 

 but I never saw an insect of any kind on them (though bees, 

 &c., were abundant enough in the gardens), nor could I find 

 that the flowers were exploded so as to throw out the pollen ; 

 yet these plants have produced abundance of seed-pods. No 

 doubt, though I can find no reference to the fact, the early 

 flowers of ULex in Europe are self-fertilisable ; but, whether this 

 be the case or not, here the tendency is all towards self- 

 fertilisation. Even the glorious spring and early - summer 

 blossoming of this plant fails to attract insects in most parts of 

 this colony, yet it seeds to such an extent as to cause great 

 expense in its eradication. 



