116 ME. F. W. KEEBLE ON 



Mr. Nock, tlie bead gardener of tlie Hakgala Gardens, by placing some of tbe seeds 

 on a garden plant. I do not suggest tliat tliis is a case of mimicry, but ratber one 

 of accidental, thougb strikingly close, resemblance. Tbe embryo is minute ; tbe bypo- 

 cotyl bas a sligbt swelling at its free end, and is, like tbe endosperm, green. 



Notothixos floccosus. — Pruit " ovoid, white, one-eigbtb of an incb long"*; tbe fruit 

 is J incb long, and, wben fully ripe, white and glabrous, in tbe almost ripe stage is buff- 

 coloured and tomentose. Tbe ripe fruit is remarkably like tbat of tbe ordinary Mistletoe 

 {Viscimi album) ; seed lenticular, with a small amount of viscin attacbed basally (fig. 10, 

 PL X.). 



Loranthus Hookerianus. — Plower and fruit small. Pruit 5 mm., globular, rusty red ; 

 seed issues basally. Base of seed wbite, non-sticky, punctate, upper balf surrounded by 

 white viscin, sticky. Endosperm green ; from it tbe bead of tbe embryo projects. 



Embryo : bypocotyl almost globular ; cotyledons small, fused. 



Tbe small seeds are often found in groups, in excrement of birds, and most, so found, 

 dry and bard — dead ; some few, however, are germinating. The same applies to other 

 small-seeded forms of Lorantbacese, e. g. Notothiocos Jloccosus. See section on distribution 

 of seeds. 



It is noteworthy tbat in these small-seeded forms tbe greatest (or only) stickiness is at 

 the apical end of the seed, e. g. in Loranthus tomentosus, L. Gardneri, etc. ; whereas in 

 the large-seeded forms, whose bypocotyls grow to a considerable length, it is tbe basal 

 end of the seed which becomes firmly attacbed by its viscin to the host. 



EXPLANATION OP THE PLATES. 

 Plate X. 



Fig. 1. Flowers and fruit of Loranthus neelgherrensis. Flowers {c) show clefts between corolla-lobes 



and also the slit or throat of opened flower, b. Section through ripe fruit showing green 



embryo and white endosperm. 

 2. Seed of L. neelgherrensis germinating on Acacia leaf ; green, lobulated hypocotyl, and brown 



layer of dried viscin covering endosperm. 

 3 & 4. Fruits of L. neelgherrensis, dark-grown (3 times nat. size), whose walls are burst by growth 



of embryo. In fig. 3 a white " root-structure " is growing from the free end of the hypocotyl. 



Fruit-coats black, owing to the large quantity of tannin they contain. Fig. 4 shows cleft 



whence the plumule emerges. The cotyledons, almost entirely enclosed in the endosperm, are 



fused except for this cleft. 



5. Germinating seeds of L. neelgherrensis. a. Showing first-formed leaves and a white structure 



(indicated by r in b) growing from the free end of the hypocotyl. 



6. fl, b. Flower and fruits of L. Gardneri. c. Fruits enclosed in a whorl of brightly coloured 



bracts. 



* Hcoker, Fl. Brit. India, vol. v. p. 228. 



