ON MONOTROPA HYPOPITYS. 301 



masses of the entire plant with the intevlnciiig roots of trees nmongst 

 which it nestles, from an examination of wliich I hoped to have ascer- 

 tained whether or not tlie ))iant was eiliier wholly or partially parasitic. 

 Though closely resembling in habit and general appearance Lathrmi 

 squauiaria, Mondtropn is not, I believe, parasitic in the same way nor to 

 the same extent that that plant is. In Lathrcea I have succeeded in 

 tracing the actual connection between its roots and those of Corylus 

 Acdlana, the plant on which it is generally parasitic here ; and I am able 

 to confirm in many respects the statements made by Mr. Bowman in his 

 paper on LatJircen srjncnnarla in the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' 

 vol. xvi. part 3. But as regards Monotropa, I have utterly failed to 

 discover any immediate or direct communication between it and the roots 

 amongst which it lies imbedded, except tliat the fibrous processes which 

 envelope the roots or rootstock of Monotropa are closely applied, and to 

 some extent adherent, to the roots of the trees. Both Beech and Pir 

 grow around the plants at Westover; and I identified, by the strong 

 resinous smell, some of the roots to which the Monotropa rootlets were 

 clinging as some kind of Fir. In the station at Carisbrooke Castle only 

 Beech-trees occur. The only discussion of late years upon the subject of 

 the parasitism of Monotropa, appears, as far as I can find from the 

 resources at my command, to be that in the first volume of the ' Phy- 

 tologist,' to which Messrs. Luxfbrd, Edwin Lees, W. Wilson, E. Newman, 

 T. G. Rylands, and others, contributed their observations. Their opinions 

 very widely differed, one of the most striking peculiarities of the plant, 

 the fibrous clothing of the roots or underground stem being variously 

 considered " the woolly matted extremities of the grasses which grew 

 with the Monotropa " "minute spougioles — sent forth in all directions;" 

 " spougioles or suckers ;" " fibrous extremities " or " root ;" and lastly, 

 " a byssoid fungus." Mr. Kylancis, whose paper shows that he took 

 considerable trouble in the matter, was so satisfied that this fibre was a 

 fungoid growth, that he discovered and named four distinct species, which 

 very pleasingly brouglit together the names of the several investigators — 

 Epipliagos Lnxfordii (Ryl. mss.), Zi/f/odemiiis Bcrkeleyi (lUl. mss.), 

 Si'pedoniuin TFilsoni (Ryl. mss.), Cladosporium Leesii (Ryl. mss.). Now 

 although "byssoid fungi" may occur naturally enough on the decay- 

 ing and dead leaves and other vegetable matter beneath Beech or Fir 

 trees, it is extremely difficult to believe that the substance so regularly 

 and constantly enveloping the root or rhizome of Monotropa is of a 

 fungoid character. The resemblance which was at once suu'gested to my 

 mintl by the appearance of this fibre was to the radicular fibres by which 

 common Ivy clings to trees or walls, and this still seems to me to be a 

 comparison well warranted by the observations I have been able to make. 

 The investigations of the well-known botanists whose names are al)Ove- 

 mcntioned were conducted just thirty years ago. It would be very satis- 

 factory if English microscopists would, with their greatly advanced know- 

 ledge and improved apparatus, turn their attention to the question of the 

 parasitism of this and some other plants. I must confess niysclfciuite unai)le 

 to decide whether or not Monotropa is parasitic at all. No actual connec- 

 tion has ever i)een ob-erved ; this seems to be the strongest point, because, 

 although extremely difficult to discover and demonstrate, actual connec- 

 tion, beyond mere contact, has been proved to exist in the case of Lulhrfra 

 and other parasitic plants; and, until this connection has been traced and 



