tttE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 69 



S. hiimifitsa, and Sprengelia incarnata. On the other hand, round 

 Sydney Harbour the pink and red species are commoner than 

 the white ; besides S. humifusa and Sprengelia incarnata, both 

 common there, the following species, with long, crimson, 

 tubular corollas, occur abundantly: — E. longiflora, S. triflora, 

 purpurescens, tuhiflora, and pinifolia. Again, of the Rutacecz, 

 the only species found in the vicinity of Port Phillip are the 

 Correas, which are white or greenish yellow, the red variety of 

 C. speciosa being absent or very rare near the coast. In the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney, on the other hand, pink or blue- 

 flowered species of this order are the most frequent, e.g., 

 Borc-nia capitata,pinnata, serrulata, ledi folia, coendescens, Eriostemon 

 Croivei, exalata, and lanceolata. I have mentioned among the 

 ProteacecB Lambertia forviosa,\V\t}\ long, tubular, crimson flowers. 

 No similar shrub is found in Victoria, and though we have 

 some red or pink Grevilleas, I think there are more 

 deep red species, such as G. punicea, in New South Wales. 

 Then, again, while we have only one species of Telopea in 

 Victoria, and that occurring only in a district which botanically 

 is an appange of New South Wales, in the latter colony there 

 are two species, and one with rich crimson flowers is widely 

 spread around Port Jackson and on the Blue Mountains. Not 

 to be wearisome with tedious details, I will merely mention the 

 superb Doryanthes, with its head of crimson flowers, as another 

 conspicuous example of a plant with richly coloured corolla 

 not represented in our colony. There can, I suppose, 

 be little doubt that the fact of the greater prevalence 

 of red and purple flowers in New South Wales is 

 due to the lepidoptera and hj'menoptera of the colony being 

 larger, more abundant, and furnished with longer tongues than 

 those of the southern districts of Australia, and I should be 

 glad to know whether any of our entomologists can confirm 

 this supposition in regard to these families of insects which 

 occur round the shores of Port Jackson. The somewhat 

 greater number of days of bright and strong sunlight in the 

 more northern colony may also favour the deeper colouration of 

 flowers in species which are able to grow in dry, unshaded 

 situations, though the rather longer days of a Victorian summer 

 should be in favour of our flora. 



MIMICRY. 



I SHALL refer to another mimetic form, which for cool 

 Pharisaism takes the palm from every creeping or flying 

 thing. I first saw this menleur a triple etage on the Tan- 

 ganyika plateau. I had lain for a whole week without 

 stirring from one spot — a boulder in the dried-up bed 



