Notes on the Pollination of some South African Gycads. 269 
The comparatively long period — about nine months — which elapses 
between pollination and the maturing of the seeds, exposes the cones to 
many risks, so that it is difficult from mere field observations to estimate 
the frequency of pollination ; but after allowing for the heavy toll levied 
by grass-fires, caterpillars, and the trampling of oxen, one is left with the 
impression that the production of seeds is not a very successful business. 
This impression is confirmed by the apparent rarity of seedlings, but 
again it has to be remembered that in a grass country it would need very 
careful and minate observation to pick out small plants, and consequently 
they may be commoner than one thinks. 
This year I have labelled most of the female cones in a Stangeria 
colony, and hope to get more accurate data on this point. 
In any case Stangeria Katzeri has very successfully adopted vegetative 
means of reproduction. Branches and suckers up to a dozen in number 
are found in almost every well-developed specimen. 
Summary and Conclusion. 
St. Katzeri grows in open grassland or savannah. 
The male cones shed their pollen from the middle of August 
onward, when the grass is dry and shrivelled and high winds are 
common. 
The male cones are sufficiently high to enable the wind to sweep out 
the pollen. 
The sporophylls of the cones imbricate ascendingly ; those of the 
female cone separate at the time of pollination. This arrangement is 
well adapted to catch pollen settling down from above. 
Pollen has been caught on slides placed at distances which were 
greater than those separating several male and female cones. 
No insect visitors which could effect pollination have been observed. 
Pollination takes place in a fair number of cases, but does not 
appear to be of general occurrence. 
Vegetative reproduction is common, and may have been adopted 
to supplement the more uncertain sexual method. 
Anemophily holds good for Stangeria Katzeri, 
The three species of Gycads considered in the present paper may be 
found in certain localities within a radius of a hundred yards — Stangeria 
in the grassland abutting sharply on the bush-covered valleys, E. Alten- 
steinii on the steeper banks of the valley, and E. villosus in the shady 
depths of the valley itself ; yet if my conclusions are correct they repre- 
sent three stages or conditions in respect of their pollination. 
Stangeria adheres to what we may assume to be the older and more 
primitive anemophilous method, and it is not without significance that 
