i 7 8 HYDNORACEAE 



perforce remain in the flower for several days until the bristles shrivel and 

 allow the insects to escape. As the stigma is fully developed before the 

 anthers shed their pollen, a flower which has just opened will he in the 

 receptive stage, while after some days when the insects leave it, fresh pollen 

 will he available to be carried to another flower; thus cross pollination is 

 secured. 



Up to the present the author has observed three species of carrion beetles 

 in the flowers of Hydnora afr'tcona, and in one case (Dermestes) also the larvae 

 feeding on the bait-bodies. The most common one, at am' rate near Worcester, 

 is Dermestes vn/pinus, the much dreaded destroyer of specimens in collections 

 of Natural History all over the world. Whether this insect is originally 

 South African or not, cannot be said, tor it is now cosmopolitan, and it is not 

 impossible that some stray introduced individuals may have reached the 

 Hydnoras and settled among them. 



The fruit develops underground into a globular body, the placentae 

 becoming modified into a gelatinous, starch-bearing mass in which the tiny 

 seeds are embedded; morphologically such a fruit would be called a pseudo- 

 berry or pulpy pome, like the guava. Porcupines, baboons and jackals ' dig up 

 the fruits, eat the pulp and naturally carry the seeds to their haunts among 

 the bushes, thus securing the dissemination of the plant. 



The dry thallus is collected and used tor tanning leather. 



Hydnora triceps, with 3-flowered shoots, is of similar size: it is known 

 only from Little Namaqualand. 



Hydnora Solmsiana has, like the two Abyssinian species, a 4-lobed perianth, 

 which is on the outside of a lighter colour than that of //. africatia. The 

 inner side is pale salmon or the colour of the human skin. The perianth-lobes 

 are not fringed on the margin like those of //. africana, but a broad belt on 

 both sides ot the central depression is thickly studded with bristles directed 

 towards the centre. The androecium is much elongated, while the stigma is 

 nearly flat, both being 4-merous. Does not emit the smell ot bad meat. 



Some of the flowers found by Mr C. Bohr near Windhuk contained 

 large numbers of a small beetle (Cirpop/ii/us binotatits), which apparently feeds 

 on the white and tender coat lining the margin ot the central depression ot 

 the perianth-lobes. (See Fig. 82 d, 3.) There is no central bait-bod}' here 

 as in //. africana, but the edges of the central depression and the belt alongside 

 it, as far as the bristles occur, are covered with a Layer of a pure white, 

 spongy substance, which, on the specimen received by us, showed signs ot 

 nibbling by insects. As the bristles point inwards the)' evidently allow the 

 entry of the beetles, but not their escape. Dr L. Peringuey informs us that 

 these beetles generally live on decaying fruits. 



Hitherto found only on the roots of Acacia horrida in Great Namaqualand 

 (Keetmanshoop) and Hereroland (Windhuk), where it appears after the first 

 rains in December. 



* Hence the colonial name "baviaa/nkost" or "jakhalskost." The hottentots call 

 it "kawiii." 



