498 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



fish from the same locality. ["A Burrowing Fish (Galaxias 

 sp.)." Victorian Naturalist, xviii. 65, Aug. 1901]. 



Mr. Fletcher also exhibited flowers of a common Epacrid, 

 Melichrus rotatus R.Br., which had been gathered fresh and, 

 placed in closed tubes for several days, to show the relatively 

 extraordinary amount of honey or nectar which is produced. 

 This is presumably secreted by the " five large scales [of the 

 corolla] densely covered with prominent glands, alternating with 

 the stamens inside." The suggestion was offered that the appear- 

 ance of the nectar, which is at first clear and colourless but 

 becomes yellowish-brown as the flowers age, rather than its taste, 

 was probably what Robert Brown particularly, had in mind when 

 he chose the generic name [peXixpoos {-ovs) rather than fxekixpos].* 

 The descriptions of the textbooks make no mention of any 

 character to which the colour or taste of honey is attributed. 

 The use of the honey as a lure or trap, and its function, if any, 

 in facilitating cross-pollination remain in doubt at present, as so 

 far (from daylight observations) the plants had always been 

 found to be singularly free from visitors likely to act as pollinators, 

 even ants being conspicuously absent. The plant flowers from 

 July to October, and among noteworthy points were the scarcity 

 of fruit in the early and middle portions of the flowering period; 

 the early stage at which the anthers are found to be empty in 

 open flowers, and the difficulty of finding out what becomes of 

 the pollen; and the more or less complete submergence of the 

 pistil in the nectar as the flowers fade and shrivel. 



* Subsequently, on referring to Mr. F. M. Bailey's " Queensland Flora " 

 (iii. 927), it was found that the author gives "Flower-glands honey-coloured " 

 as the meaning of Melichrus. The glands and the honey, at first, are alike 

 colourless in the fresh condition. As Robert Brown had the opportunity of 

 examining fresh flowers, the appearance of the honey rather than that of 

 the glands (with the remains of the honey) as these are seen in dried 

 herbarium specimens, may possibly have attracted most attention. 



