178 THE SAVANXA OF ARIFO. 



the wet moss on tree-trunlvs ; not so strange, either, as that of 

 yet another, which floats, but in the most unexpected spots, 

 namely, in the ^^'ate^ wliich lodges between the leaf-sheaths 

 of the wild pines, perched on the tree-boughs, a parasite on 

 parasites ; and sends out long runners, as it grows, along the 

 bough, in search of the next wild pine and its tiny reservoirs. 



In the face of such strange facts, is it very absufd to 

 guess that these Utricularias, so like each other in their 

 smgular and highly specialized flowers, so unlike each other 

 in the habit of the rest of the plant, have started from 

 some one original type, perhaps long since extinct ; and 

 that, carried by birds into quite new situations, they have 

 adapted themselves, by natural selection, to new circum- 

 stances, changing the parts which required change the 

 leaves and stalks; but keeping comparatively unchanged 

 those wdiich needed no change the flowers ? 



But T was not prepared, as I should have been had I 

 studied my " Griesbach's West Indian Flora " carefully 

 enough beforehand, for the next proof of the wide distri- 

 bution of water-plants. For as I scratched and stumbled 

 among the tussocks, " larding the lean earth as I stalked 

 along," my kind guide put into my hand, with something 

 of an air of triumph, a little plant, which was there was 

 no denying it none other than the long-leaved Sundew,^ 



1 Drosera lougifolia. 



