THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL VI 



there may be a thousand species, are here the chief agents 

 in the pollination of flowers, whereas in America and a 

 large part of Europe they occupy the second place and in 

 the Alps the third place. Neither honey-bees nor bumble- 

 bees were found in New Zealand at the time of its dis- 

 covery. 



The phylogenetic history of green flowers likewise 

 strongly supports the view that they are not well adapted 

 to pollination by insects. In the opinion of many emi- 

 nent botanists all greenish, inconspicuous flowers have 

 been derived by retrogression from larger entomophilous 

 ancestors. This theory has been very ably developed by 

 Professor C. E. Bessey in his taxonomy of the Angio- 

 sperms, for which he suggests the restoration of the more 

 appropriate name of Anthophyta. The buttercups 

 (Ranales), the water plantains (Alismales) and roses 

 (Rosales) are regarded as primitive and are placed at 

 the beginning of the Anthophyta. The typical flower was 

 entomophilous, of large size, and its organs were sepa- 

 rate and spirally arranged. Engler's spiral series of 

 Monocotyledons, which is composed of orders mostly 

 devoid of a perianth, is derived from a liliaceous type; 

 while the Apetala? are treated as reduced forms and dis- 

 tributed among the petalous Dicotyledons. 7 



A similar view is adopted by Arber and Parkin in their 

 discussion of the origin of Angiosperms. They reach the 

 conclusion "that the Apetalous orders without perianth, 

 such as the Piperales, Amentiferous families and Pan- 

 danales, can not be regarded as primitive Angiosperms, 

 but have been derived from ancestors with a well-de- 

 veloped perianth. Entomophily ... has supplied the 

 motive force,' which not only called the Angiosperms 

 into existence, but laid the foundation of their future 

 prosperity.'" Even if Engler's system of classification 



Bnt B r e7 'oi h 7!-* E> ' Vh ^ l °^ and Taxonomy of Angiosperms," 



" -'"- :l7: '- 1907 ; "The pin-],,!, M ,„ in T;( ,;„„ niv .. ,,„,„.; 



