270 Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
there is much in its general habit and structure to suggest that it is 
nearer the ancestral stock morphologically than Encephalartos, e.g., in 
its low fern-like habit, its leaf structure, its less differentiated sporophylls, 
its tendency towards a concentric structure of the cotyledonary bundles. 
E. villosus, on the other hand, appears to have abandoned anemophily 
completely and to rely entirely on insect agency. There is no denying 
that the method is an expensive one, although not more so than in many 
other species of plants ; but certainly, if one may judge from the number 
of young plants seen, it has proved successful. There are indications that 
owing to the greater certainty of enfcomophily E. villosus has been able 
to economise in several directions — if one may put the matter so unscien- 
tifically. There is no need to lift its cones on a long, slowly developed 
stem in order to bring them into a position favourable to the action of the 
wind, which its habitat would demand. As a consequence the age of cone 
production is probably reached much earlier — a point confirmed by the 
comparative growth of young plants of this and other species. There is 
also evidence that a considerable reduction both in the number of micro- 
sporophylls and sporangia has taken place. Complete records have not 
yet been obtained, but the number of both these organs is certainly much 
smaller than in such forms as E. latifrons and E. Friderici Guilielmi, 
both of which grow in open grassland. 
Without access to the literature of the Cycadacege it is impossible to 
say to what extent the arrangement of the sporophylls with downward 
imbrication prevails in the family, and therefore to what extent it 
indicates an entomophilous condition. It is at least interesting that our 
three species differ so markedly in a feature of this nature, which must 
of necessity be closely related to their pollination. 
E. Altensteinii appears to represent an intermediate condition wherein 
both forms of pollination are possible. In the colouring of the staminate 
cone, in the odour emitted by it, and in the arrangement of the sporophylls 
it stands almost midway between Stangeria and E. villosus. Have insects 
of the Phlaeophagus type more recently extended their operations to E. 
Altensteinii than E. villosus ? If this question could be answered in the 
affirmative, would it not help us to understand how this species is being 
fitted to leave the open wind-swept krantz for the shelter of the wooded 
kloof? 
Most of the points have been discussed with Professor Pearson of 
the South African College, and I would like to take this opportunity 
of acknowledging that the observations were begun under his inspiration 
and continued with his unwearying advice and assistance. 
