BY A. G. HAMILTON. 
371 
shallow and simple ring of cilia to the perfectly closed and pro- 
tected cup in D. Brownii, or D. stricta. This makes the fact that 
the simplest and most open indusium (which may be looked upon 
as the ancestral form of the genus or near it) is the more remark- 
able, as it is best adapted for pollination by insects. 
Grant Allen points out [4] that a high development of flower 
usually goes with a reduction of the number of carpels or seeds, 
because the plant is certain to be fertilised and so the seeds more 
likely to arrive at maturity. This theory would appear to be 
supported by Dampiera. The theory, strongly advocated by the 
same author, that blue denotes the highest development in a 
family, agrees well with the facts. Dampiera is certainly one of 
the highest developed, if not the very highest, of the order, and 
as already pointed out blues and purples prevail in the genus. 
The auricles, too, which are the most highly differentiated organs, 
show the greatest depth of colour, and as this colour is hidden 
from insects and cannot be intended as an attraction, I think it 
may be fairly inferred that it is a concomitant of the high 
development. It is significant that the indusium, and the auricles, 
when present, in other members of the order, often show deep 
tints of brown, red, and purple. 
The pollen of all the species examined was small, round, and 
after exposure to the air, dusty, and so is well adapted for falling 
from the auricles in a shower on a visitor. 
The genus, I think, gives a clue to the purpose of the hairs on 
the style, and the exterior of the indusium (not the cilia, which 
have a well defined function as pointed out in a previous paper 
[5]) in the plants of the Goodeniaceaj. They occur in Velleya, 
Goodenia, Sccevola, Selliera, Lesche?iaultia, and, slightly, in Bru- 
nonia. Now in all these the style is wholly (or in those species 
with auricles, partly) exposed to the air, rain and dew. But the 
drops collecting in the flower are prevented hy the hairs from 
reaching the indusium and thus damaging the pollen, or clogging 
it so that it could no longer fall freely. Even in those which 
have auricles, rain falling on the style would run along to the 
indusium but for the hairs. But in Dampiera only, the whole 
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