ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 509 
Evolution in Methods of Pollination.* — Miss A. Carter discusses 
the different modes of pollination in Flowering Plants, and the way in 
which they have been evolved. She points out that the most ancient 
forms, the Gymnosperms, are all anemophilous. Of the Monocotyle- 
dones, which are older than the Dicotyledones, five out of the twenty- 
two American orders, the CyperaceaB, Graminese, Juncacese, Eriocauleae, 
and Typhaceae, are entirely anemophilous ; while others, as Vallisneria 
and many Naiadaceae, are hydrophilous. Of the twenty-three natural 
orders in the whole world which comprise more than 1000 species, five 
are characterized by inconspicuous flowers. Of these, four, viz. the 
Cyperaceae, Gramineae, Urticaceae, and Piperaceae, are probably ancestral 
types ; the fifth, Euphorbiaceae, degenerate. It may be assumed that 
the period of the appearance of Dicotyledons was also that of the 
development of our great groups of insects. The first step towards the 
attraction of insects was probably the colouring of the stamens, as in 
Plantago and Thalictrum ; the colouring of the corolla and the develop- 
ment of saccharine secretions was a subsequent adaptation. The most 
highly developed orders appear to be those in which the number of 
parts in a floral whorl is small, as the Compositae, Umbelliferae, Legu- 
minosae, Orchideae, Labiatae, Scrophulariaceae, Kubiaceae, Ericaceae, &c. 
In another paper | Miss Carter gives details regarding the mode of 
pollination of some American plants. 
Pollination of Dracunculus.J — Sig. P. E. Vinassa finds that Dracun- 
culns vulgaris is pollinated by coleoptera ( Dermestes , Saprinus, Cardbus , 
Oxythyrea, &c.), and that flies enter only exceptionally, and are ineffec- 
tive. When the anthers are exposed the fragrance has ceased, and flies 
are no longer attracted to the inflorescence. 
Prof. G. Arcangeli § also records further observations which show 
that necrophagous coleoptera are truly and mainly the pollinators of 
this species. 
Dracunculus canariensis, which emits, when the flowers are expanded, 
a powerful odour something between that of melon and of pine-apple, is, 
on the contrary, according to Prof. Arcangeli, || habitually self-pollinated. 
This does not, however, exclude the possibility of occasional cross- 
pollination, and the visiting insects appear to be necro-coleoptera. 
Pollination of Pyrensean Flowers.f — M. J. M‘Leod describes the 
mode of pollination of 261 species of flowering plants natives of the 
Pyrenees up to a height of 2200 metres, and compares the relative 
frequency of the different types of flower-visiting insects with that in 
the Alps. As a general rule Lepidoptera are less abundant, insects 
with a short or moderately long proboscis more abundant, in the 
Pyrenees than in the Alps ; but otherwise there is no great difference 
in the general facts, nor in the relative number of species belonging 
to the different groups of insects found at different heights. 
* Bot. Gazette, xvii. (1892) pp. 10-6, 72-8, f Tom. cit., pp. 19-22. 
X Atti Soc. Tosc. Sci. Nat., vii. (1891) pp. 317-9. 
§ Tom. eit., pp. 332-4 ; and Malpighia, v. (1892) pp. 426-8. Cf. this Journal, 
1891, p. 68. Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital., i. (1892) pp. 87-91. 
^ Bot. Jaarb. kruitk. Genootsch. Dodonaea, Gent, III., pp. 160-485 (5 pis.). See 
Bot. Centralbl., xlix. (1892) p. 142. 
