24 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



will show plenty of confidence and will reward his watch. 

 How actively the little lithe creatures move among the 

 branches, bending and twisting their graceful bodies and 

 necks under the flowers, into each of which the long brush- 

 tipped tongue is thrust ! While so engaged the feathers at 

 the base of the bill and on the front of the head become 

 smeared with blue patches of pollen, which is thus conveyed 

 to the stigmas of other flowers. Were the korimako a quiet 

 and rather sedentary bird, such visitations would only 

 bring about fertilisation of flowers by others on the same 

 tree, but so restless is it and so perpetually on the move 

 that it flits about from tree to tree as if it revelled in the 

 abundance of the feast provided for it. 



There is a second form of Fuchsia in the bush, not so 

 common as the larger one but still abundant enough, 

 which is characterised by its smaller leaves and much 

 smaller paler-coloured flowers. What marks it out most 

 clearly from its commoner relative is that the stamens are 

 not only very much reduced in size, but that their anthers 

 contain no pollen. Thus, while the flowers of the larger 

 form are probably incapable of self-fertilisation, though 

 possessing both the reproductive whorls fully developed, 

 this smaller kind is also hermaphrodite in structure, but is 

 strictly female in function, being absolutely dependent on 

 pollen from the larger form for fertilisation of its ovules. 

 The stigmas are often to be seen smudged with blue pollen, 

 and the plants bear abundance of berries, so that the flowers 

 must be freely visited. 



Both these forms belong to the same species, F. e,n-or- 

 ticata so called from its habit of casting oft' its light-brown 

 papery bark and it is one of the curious problems still 

 awaiting solution at the hands of botanists why so many 

 flowers in this country are sexually imperfect. Sometimes 

 a third form is met with in which the flowers are inter- 

 mediate in structure between the other two. 



What a curious problem is shadowed forth by the 

 distribution of the Fuchsias. The genus occurs only in 

 the South American region (where it ranges along the 

 Andes from Mexico to the Straits of Magellan) and in New 



