BIRD-POLLINATED PLANTS 77 



means of their thin, curved beaks can gain access to flowers enclosed by stiff and 

 high leaves much more easily than bees. In Natal, the pollen of Musa is usually 

 transferred by the Cinnyridae, more rarely by bees. In Mauritius, on the contrary, 

 the bananas are pollinated by insects. Scott-Elliot observed that Ravenala mada- 

 gascariensis and Strelitzia Reginae were pollinated by Nectarinia souimanga and 

 Nectarinia Afra, respectively. 



In the last-named plant, numerous threads of one or several cells are distributed 

 through the pollen-masses. They take origin from the epidermis of the anther, and 

 bind the pollen together, so that quite a large quantity can be drawn out at the same 

 time by means of a needle. This is probably a special adaptation, rendering possible 

 the transfer of a large number of pollen-grains to the birds that effect pollination. 

 Considering the relatively large size of such birds, this is a matter of no small 

 importance (cf. E. Palla in Ber. D. bot. Ges., Berlin, ix, 1891, p. 86, and A.Wagner, 

 op.cit., xii, 1894, p. 54). 



In the concluding sentences of his last-named memoir, Scott-Elliot, according 

 to Taubert (Bot. Centralbl., xlvi, iSpr, p. 161), opposes the view expressed by 

 Wallace, that the colours of flower-visiting birds bear no relation to their habits, and 

 shares Darwin's opinions that they present a certain amount of adaptation to the 

 plants they visit. His conclusions are based on the fact that the breasts of most 

 Cinnyridae possess a characteristic red hue, corresponding exactly to the colour 

 observed by him in most South African ornithophilous flowers, a colour which is 

 also constantly present among Labiatae, Leguminosae, Iridaceae, and others, when 

 these are pollinated by birds. 



Humming-birds and honey-birds, however, are not the chief or exclusive 

 agents of cross-pollination in many flowers. According to the reports of Fritz 

 Miiller to his brother Hermann (Schenck's ' Handbuch der Botanik,' I, p. 17), 

 there are also larger birds that do this: the large flowers of Carolinea, with their 

 immensely long filaments, are not pollinated by humming-birds, which are much 

 too small, but by woodpeckers and other relatively large forms. Hermann Miiller 

 further remarks (op. cit.), ' Woodpeckers may seek in the flower for insects 

 as well as honey, but certainly for the latter ; since, when they peck oranges, as 

 is frequently the case, they can, of course, expect only sweet juice, and not 

 insects.' 



It therefore appears that in the tropical and sub-tropical zones there are 

 numerous flowers that are visited by birds, with consequent pollination. Owing 

 to the incompleteness of the material, no grouping of the manifold adaptations is at 

 present possible. In Europe, the visits of birds to flowers occur only exceptionally, 

 and, when they do, pollination does not take place by way of recompense, for the 

 birds only work havoc. Thus, Hermann Miiller (Nature, ix, 1874, pp. 482, 509; 

 X, 1874, pp. 6, 24; xiii, 1876, p. 427; XV, 1877, p. 530; xvi, 1877, pp. 8, 41, 

 84, 163) saw sparrows pecking off the flowers of the yellow crocus, and bull- 

 finches 'biting out of primroses with hereditary skill exactly that section of the 

 lowest part of the flower which contains the nectar.' 



