Note on the Entomophilous Nature of Encephalartos. 71 
Eattray also thinks it possible, as was suggested to us many years ago 
by Dr. L. P^ringuey, that the long rostrum of the female Antliarrhinus 
appears to be a special adaptation to enable the insect, when depositing 
its eggs into the ovules of the Encephalartos, to locate them properly. 
(The ovules are at that time about an inch long and nearly f inch in 
diameter.) 
The adult insect escapes from the seeds when the cones disintegrate 
(December-January) and hides under the bark of trees during the summer 
until the flowering time of Encephalartos arrives. (Not the same plants 
from which the insect came, for the trees flower only every alternate 
year or at longer intervals.) 
When the odour of the flowering ^ cones of Encephalartos reaches 
the insects they congregate there in numbers, and the females afterwards 
find their way into the interior of the ^ cones, where they move about 
freely between the scales, thus pollinating the ovules. For this service 
the plant pays a high price, for the ovules into which eggs have been 
deposited by the beetles are destroyed by the growing grubs, and only 
those that escape infection (sometimes none) ripen into perfect seeds. 
