10 INTRODUCTION. 
are only a repetition of those found at the axils at the insertions of all the 
branches and branchlets of this species, and in other species as well. In these 
axillary callosities it is easy, by means of Trommer’s reagent (a solution of copper 
sulphate, copper and potassium hydrate) to discover in many cells of their substance, 
even when in a dried-up condition, the characteristic brick-red colouring of cuprous 
oxide. It seems therefore possible that, in certain palms, these callosities really act 
as nectaries, or at least as lures and baits for ants or other insects; while in the 
greater number of other species such a function is purely rudimentary. I have been 
able to recognize with absolute certainty the existence of true floral nectaries in the 
flowers of Cocos capitata, and in its allied species. It is, moreover, a well-known fact 
that the flowers of various kinds of palms, by their saccharine substances, do attract 
insects eager to feast on their sweetness. Among these insects are Cetoniides and 
Rhyncophora, and this fact in itself suffices to lead us to suppose the existence of 
a biological connection between such insects and the flowers of palms. 
It would not therefore surprise me, if the flowers of certain Daemonorops (as 
of some Calami) were found to be more frequently nectariferous than is at present 
believed. I have however, as a fact, noticed true floral nectaries only in the flowers 
of D. verticillaris, and to a smaller degree in D. longipes, both of which species 
are of, all the Daemonorops and this is a coincidence well worth remembering 
the best provided with an apparatus capable of rendering service to and receiving 
service from ants, as I propose to explain more fully further on. 
The organs which, in the two species just mentioned, seem to me to be real 
nectaries, consist of six fleshy, round, very small bodies, that alternate in the male 
flowers with the stamens in the throat of the corolla (Pl. II, f. 7, g). In addition, 
the infundibular part of the corolla of the same flowers below the throat, that is, 
below the point of insertion of the stamens and of the afore-mentioned small 
bodies, appears to be nectariferous. 
XI.—Myrmecophilism. 
The inflated spathes of Daemonorops of the division Cymbospatha have rather the 
appearance of organs intended for the reception of ants; though I must acknowledge 
as a fact that I have never perceived that they formed a permanent dwelling for 
these insects, perhaps because they are deciduous; yet almost all the Cymbospatha 
species are provided, at the axils of the involucres of the male flowers and in those 
of the involucrophorum of the female flowers, with a callous swelling, in appearance 
nectariform, which may indicate the existence of a biological connection between ants 
‘and this peculiar form of spathe. Also a peculiarly prominent callous and nectariform 
swelling is to be seen in the areola of the neutral flower of the greater number of 
the species belonging to the before-mentioned group around the point of insertion of 
the flower (Pl. I, £. 7, d); indeed very few of the Cymbospathae are without this 
tumescence, which may perhaps be regarded as an organ of the nature of a bait 
or lure, acting as such occasionally in some species, while in others it is simply re- 
presentative. The semi-circular nectariform swelling around the areola of the neutral 
flower is exceedingly developed in D. melanochaetes, D.  Pierreanus, D. grandis, D. 
Kureianus, D. angustifolius, D. trichrous, D. calicarpus, D. Sepal, ete. 
