572 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Asan example of the short-styled genera we may take Persoonia. 
Plants of this section are commonly known as “ geebungs.” The 
perianth is usually of four equal segments, and the stamens are 
on short filaments. At the base of the ovaries are four glandular 
nectaries. These glands persist after the petals have fallen, and 
are often visited by ants, which ascend the stems from below ; 
but they seldom advance beyond the nectaries. These organs, 
therefore, act as barriers to useless insects, by furnishing them 
with food before they reach the sexual organs. 
From above, these flowers are visited by species of Diptera, 
Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera, and the whole of this section is 
entomophilous. Before the perianth lobes fall away they act as 
landing stages for flying insects. These visitors then become 
sprinkled with pollen from the shortly-stalked anthers. The next 
flower visited may have lost its petals, but the nectaries are still 
exuding honey, and the flowers, therefore, are still attractive to 
insects. The pollen-sprinkled visitor finds no petal platform to 
rest upon. Its only landing-stage is the style, and this is now in 
a receptive stage, and fertilisation is readily effected. 
No. 16.—QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE TEMPERA- 
TURE OF PLANTS. 
By W. Souter. 
(Read Tuesday, January 11, 1898. ) 
[ Abstract. | 
RESPIRATION exists among all plants, although it is much more 
pronounced among young vigorous growing ones than those that 
are full-grown and matured. Plants respire, consequently they 
generate heat. The respiration in plants, as in animals, is caused 
by an absorption of oxygen and a combination of that gas with 
the tissues of the plant by which heat is produced. A series of 
experiments of a most minute nature has proved that a close 
correlation exists between the amount of oxygen supplied and the 
amount of heat generated. If oxygen be entirely withheld from 
