NOFES "ON THE FERTILISASION OF KNIGHTIA. 173 
longest of all, third short, fourth almost as long as the second 
and bent at an angle with the others; fifth very short, four last 
subequal ; all furnished with strong hairs. Ovigerous legs 
strongly curved, not quite as long as body without the abdomen. 
Legs strong and very hairy ; first three joints small, subequal ; 
fourth twice as long as third, bearing a tubular process on the 
dorsal surface beyond the middle; fifth and sixth joints very 
long, subequal, very slender ; first tarsal joint extremely small, 
second long and distinctly curved; claw scythe-shaped, auxiliary 
claws wanting; all the joints furnished with long and strong 
hairs, standing at right angles. 
Only one specimen of this remarkable species was obtained 
by the dredge from a depth of 700 fathoms in lat. 37° 34’ S., 
iene. 179 22’ E. 
NOTES ON THE FERTILISATION OF KNIGHTIA. 
————_>—_—__ 
BY T. F. CHEESEMAN, ESQ. 
ee Se 
Mr. Bentham, in a suggestive paper on the styles of the 
Australian Pyroteacea printed in the Journal of the Linnean 
Society (Botany vol. 13, p.58), has pointed out that in nearly all 
the species the anthers open while the flower is unexpanded, 
and discharge their pollen on an enclosed portion of the style, 
usually, though incorrectly, described as the stigma. The case 
is thus strictly analogous with what takes place in Composite, 
with this difference—that in Composite the stigmatic surface is 
always on the inner face of the two arms of the style, which 
remain in contact until some little time after the floret has ex- 
panded. So that, although the outside of the style may be at 
first thickly covered with pollen, yet it is all brushed off by the 
visits of insects or removed by other means before the style- 
branches separate. There is thus little danger of the pollen from 
any particular floret reaching the stigma belonging to it, anda 
much greater chance is afforded of cross-fertilisation taking place. 
In Protéace@,as Mr. Bentham remarks, the style is undivided, 
and the stigma is always external, although generally minute. It 
therefore happens that in many of the Australian genera special 
contrivances are required to prevent the flower’s own pollen from 
reaching the stigma. Some of these contrivances are so remark- 
able that it has long been a matter of surprise to me that no 
Australian botanist has fully examined them, and explained the 
different modes of fertilisation dependent on their action; more 
especially as a cursory inspection of the few species cultivated in 
our gardens has shown me that Mr. Bentham has by no means 
described all the curious adaptations that exist. 
In New Zealand we have only two representatives of Pro- 
eacea, the well-known Rewa-rewa tree (Knightia excelsa) and the 
Toro (Persoonia toro). With the fertilisation of the latter plant 
