274 Scott-Elliot. — Ornithophilous Flowers 
This flower I have often seen visited by Nectarinia chalybea , 
while insect visits are rare. Self-fertilisation is almost im- 
possible from the superior position of the stigma. 
The other species of Sarcocolla are almost certainly ornitho- 
philous. 
PROTEACEAE. 
A large number of the species of Protea seem thoroughly 
adapted to bird fertilisation. The collection of the flowers 
into a head surrounded by closely fitting and frequently sticky 
involucral bracts forms a sort of natural drinking-cup. Pro - 
merops caper in fact appears to live almost entirely on the 
food so provided by the various species of this genus. 
Protea incompta, R. Br. (Fig. 13.) 
The involucral bracts in this species are peculiar. Their 
length increases from without inwards, and the most internal, 
which are five or six inches long, have their ends turned in- 
wards, and as these bent edges are somewhat woolly, they 
form a convenient alighting place for the bird. The calyx 
shows the usual division into a narrow free sepal with a sterile 
stamen, and a portion formed by the union of the other three 
sepals bearing the three fertile stamens. 
The calyx is expanded below the ovary, then narrows to 
a diameter of one line or so, while the last inch and a half is 
much wider and very hard and horny 1 . This last portion in- 
cludes the anthers, which are closely pressed against the style. 
The anthers end in small scarlet barren extremities. These 
scarlet tips lie upon the stigmatic portion, and keep off the 
plant’s own pollen. That part of the style which is in contact 
with the anthers has a peculiar structure (see Fig. 13). 
It is marked by eight horny ridges which show a very 
strongly developed cuticular epidermis. The hollows between 
these ridges are occupied by the loculi of the anthers. When 
the free sepal is loosened from the other three by the elonga- 
1 This portion is in this species very woolly, thus keeping off insects. 
