IIAP. VI] ANIMALS 129 



e New Zealand flora as consisting of almost exclusively inconspicuous, 

 ■cenish, scentless flowers, and he connected the supposed absence of 



ghtly coloured or scented flowers with the supposed rarity of insects, 

 ctually however neither beautifully coloured flowers, nor insects with 

 ;ll-developed senses of colour and smell, are so rare in New Zealand 



Wallace assumed. 



Of 433 flowering plants of New Zealand, according to G. M. Thomson, hardly 

 II (49 %) have inconspicuous flowers, and 22 % are scented. Over 23 % of the species 

 2 adapted for cross-pollination by insects, 48 % are fertile when self-pollinated, 

 d 29% are auemophilous. Diptera are here the most important pollinators; 

 ; inconspicuous entomophilous flowers are hardly ever, if at all, visited by other 

 ■■cats. In addition many of the numerous beetles (about 1,300 species) take 

 rt in pollination. Among Lepidoptera the numerous Noctuidae are of greater 

 portance than the few butterflies (iS species). There are only 10 species of 

 es. Finally, birds are the chief or exclusive pollinators of many large flowers, 

 c sole inference to be drawn from this description is that the relatively large 

 mber of inconspicuous flowers possibly may be connected with the predominance 

 Diptera. 



Whilst inost insular floras are remarkable for their poverty in plants 

 th beautiful flowers, the small archipelago of Juan Fernandez, on the 

 atrary, is distinguished b)' the splendour of its flower-tints ; frequently 

 ; flowers of indigenous species are even more conspicuous than those 

 allied continental species. According to Wallace, the beautiful colours of 

 ; flowers have been induced through selection by two endemic species of 

 mming-birds. Johow, who was able to study on the spot the oecology 

 the vegetation of Juan Fernandez, considers as highly probable the 

 llination of many species by humming-birds, for instance Rhaphithamnus, 

 callonia, Myrceugenia fernandeziana ; he however states, on the other 

 id, that the scarcity of insects is not nearly so great as Wallace 

 [lears to have assumed. Thus, various Lepidoptera are extraordinarily 

 merous, and Diptera were observed by Johow on the flowers of 

 ndroseris, Robinsonia, and Eryngium bupleuroides amongst others, 

 illace's view, although generally adopted, should not command scientific 

 eptation until it has been confirmed by observations made on the spot. 

 Duly careful and prolonged observations will be able to demonstrate 

 : significance of the pollination of flowers in regard to the composition 

 1 physiognomy of insular floras. In the case of some islands of the 

 -'Tth Sea, near the coast, observations have recently been made by 

 hrens, Verhoeff", Alfken, and Knuth, from which there is a promise 

 useful results. These islands indeed have no indigenous forms, and 

 , in many respects, less interesting than oceanic islands; but their 

 ent formation, their proximit_\- to the continent, and the obvious origin 

 their flora and fauna, appear to fit them for explaining many differences 



HIMPHR T^ 



