in South Africa. 279 
with their habits. As a matter of fact a peculiar shade of red 
found on the breast of Cinnyris chalybea , C. afra , U. famosa , 
{7. souimanga , and £7. bicollaris , is exactly the same as that 
which I found in the majority of ornithophilous flowers of 
South Africa. It is, moreover, not a common colour in 
flowers ; and since Labiatae, Aloes, Irids, and Leguminosae 
all assume it when they become ornithophilous, some reason 
must be shown why the simple explanation given by Darwin 
should be set aside while no other is offered. 
No one who has watched the male Cinnyris displaying 
himself in the sun can doubt that he has a distinct, even 
inordinate, knowledge of his own beauty. 
The female apparently quite coincides with him ; and con- 
sidering that (as every one who has studied birds in the field 
admits) the sight of birds is relatively far keener than our 
own, Darwin’s theory of sexual selection is quite satisfactory, 
and certainly deserves serious disproof by facts, not opinions. 
EXPLANATION OF FIGURES IN PLATE XV. 
Illustrating Mr. Scott-Elliot’s paper on Ornithophilous Flowers in South Africa. 
Melianthus major. 
as, anterior ; Is, lateral ; ps, posterior sepal ; ap, anterior, and pp, posterior 
petal ; hd nectarial cup ; st a , anterior, st p, posterior stamens ; o si, rudiments of 
5th stamen ; sty, style ; ol, lobes of ovary. 
Fig. 1. Flower with four sepals removed. 
Fig. 2. Longitudinal mesial section of flower in second stage. 
Fig. 3. Stamens and style in third stage. 
Erythrina caffra, D. C. 
Fig. 4. Whole flower in first stage. 
Fig. 5. Longitudinal section of basal part, vexillum being removed. 
se, sepals ; ve, vexillum ; al, alae ; car. carina ; sii. stigma. 
Sutherlandia frutescens . 
Fig. 6. Whole flower with vexillum depressed as in fertilisation. 
Fig. 7. Flower after sepals and vexillum have been removed. 
