REMARKABLE PHANEROGAMOUS PARASITES. 807 
species of Loranthus only grows on this particular species of Cereus, 
the formidable spines of which must afford some protection to the 
parasite. The latter has large showy berries, much larger than one 
would suppose from the dried specimens, if we may trust a painting 
in the North Gallery at Kew. This is an instance of a leafless 
parasite on a leafless host ; and it is restricted to a comparatively 
limited area. The common Mistletoe, Viscum album, Linn., pre- 
sents biological peculiarities of a totally opposite nature. As you 
all doubtless know, it preys upon a great variety of trees and 
shrubs, differing as widely in structure, properties, and foliage as 
the apple, Scotch fir, and dog-rose do ; and its geographical range 
is from Scandinavia to North Africa, and from the extreme west 
of Europe eastward to China and Japan. It exhibits compara- 
tively little variation throughout this wide area. Besides accom- 
modating itself to a great variety of hosts, it possesses a faculty 
less generally known. The seeds will actually germinate and 
grow on a plant of its own kind. A specimen from Didcot, 
having a small seedling on one of its branches, illustrates this 
peculiarity. It was discovered by Mr. Corderoy, and exhibited 
by Dr. M. T. Masters at à meeting of the scientific committee 
of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1875*. In the South of 
Europe, according to Pollini (* Flora Veronensis,’ iii. p. 176), it is 
occasionally met with ou the equally parasitic Loranthus europaeus, 
Linn., from which it does not very widely differ in foliage T. But 
there are several other known instances of this biological pheno- 
menon. Tupeia antarctica, Cham. & Schlecht., a New Zealand 
member of the Loranthacez,is sometimes, on the testimony of Sir 
James Hector, parasitic on Loranthus micranthus, Hook. f. The 
Tupeia is very variable in foliage; but from the specimens exhi- 
bited it will be seen that in the fruiting-stage, at least, it so closely 
resembles the Loranthus as to be hardly distinguishable. The 
Tupeia differs, however, in having a paler bark, and in the very 
straight unbranched axis of the inflorescence. Alive, it is more 
easily recognized, because it is dicecious. As might be expected 
from their occasional association in the manner described, they 
* Dr. R. O. A. Prior read a letter from a correspondent before this Society 
June 17th, 1880, describing the unusual occurrence of Mistletoe growing upon 
Mistletoe. See Proceedings, 1875-80, p. lxi. 
t It has been proved by experiment that seeds of Viscum will germinate on 
a variety of substances on which they cannot continue to grow ; and inthe Kew 
Museum there is an example, from Jamaica, of a seed of a Loranthus germinating 
on a branch of an inflorescence of the sugar-cane. 
