558 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
which I cannot see the significance, as it is hidden by the wide 
filaments. Although Australian violets are supposed to be scent- 
less, this species is an exception, as on warm days, particularly 
when the air is moisture-laden, it has a very strong rich scent. 
The plants bear seed freely, but I have never seen them visited 
by insects. I have never found cleistogamous flowers on this 
plant. 
Viola betonicifolia, Sm. The ordinary form of this flower is 
coloured purple, the lateral petals having a number of long, club- 
shaped hairs on the shoulder, and a row of similar hairs occupying 
the median line of all the petals. The lower petal is shortly 
spurred (Fig. 7), and two short processes (Fig. 9) project from the 
lowest filaments into this. There is no lid to the stigma, which is 
spheroidal. Another variety has a sac of about same size, but the 
filament spurs longer (Fig. 10). In a third variety, growing ina 
swamp at Guntawang, near Mudgee, the flower was pure white, 
with narrow purple lines pointing to the honey receptacle. This 
was very deep (Fig. 8), and occupied by very long processes from 
the lowest filaments (Fig. 11). This variety differed in no other 
but these particulars from the first two mentioned. Neither Her- 
mann Miller nor Sir John Lubbock notices one function of the 
long projections of the filaments in plants of this genus, viz. : their 
action as levers on the stamens when an insect inserts its head 
into the nectary. It is very noticeable in the long-spurred variety 
described above. If the experiment be tried with a bent wire in 
this variety, it will be found that, as the wire reaches the bottom 
of the honey sac, the portion answering in position to a bee’s head 
throws the spurs backward and apart, and a shower of pollen drops 
down on the wire. 
Bees visit the flowers, which seed freely. I have not observed 
cleistogamous flowers in this species either. 
EU PHORBIACE, 
Croton Verrauxit, Bail. A common shrub on the foot-hills, and 
flats, and in brush forests in Illawarra. From its strong aromatic 
scent, it is commonly known as “ Cascarilla.” Even the wood is 
strongly scented. For the most part it is moncecious, but there 
are variations in this respect. I have noted the following :— 
(1.) Male and female flowers on separate trees. 
(2.) Male and female flowers in separate racemes on the same 
lant. 
(3.) Male and female flowers in the same racemes, the females 
below. 
The young shoots are closely covered with stellate hairs, but the 
growth of the internodes and leaves separate them, so that later 
they seem widely scattered. In the young leaves there are glands 
