240 PARASITISM OF CUSCUTA AND OROBANCHE 
ing at the surface of the wood on which they expand in a dis- 
coid form. It would appear that at this place they are more 
 unrollable than elsewhere 
he first observation I would make on these notes is, that 
we should be careful in drawing specific names from the 
plants to which they are supposed to be restricted. Among 
the many species found in Affghanisthan, I have no reason for 
supposing that any peculiarity affects peculiar stocks. 
The occurrence of parasite Cuscuta on Monocotyledonous 
plants, has not, so far as I know, been observed frequently 
before; I regret that I did not examine the nature of the ad- 
hesions on the recent specimens; but I have found that he 
who travels in a new country has great difficulty in sitting 
down to any examination requiring patience, and remaining 
in doors. M. DeCandolle has noticed the similar attachment, 
but considered them rather as a means whereby to extend 
their attacks, than as a distinct of provision. DC. Physiol. 
tome. 3 p. 140 
The variation in the attachment of Cuscuta and Orobanche, 
is deserving of further observation, the limitation in the latter 
iustance to union by the central system appearing to me op- 
posed to those theories founded on the supposed necessity 
for a greater degree of elaboration in the fluids imbibed, 
than in parasites furnished with proper organs of elabora- 
tion. 
But this is by no means the only contradiction oresented to 
us by these plants, which seem to me especially adapted for 
physiological study. For although such parasites, as Loran- 
thus, when growing on trees the juice of which is milky, do 
not themselves present a similar juice, yet Lt. Kittoe found 
in the Forests of Orissa, a species parasitic on Strychnos 
Nux Vomica, the very poisonous juices of which the parasite 
by all accounts seems to have even concentrated in itself. 
Yet ordinary views of Physiology, founded on the common 
mode of attachment of Loranthus, would be inclined to limit 
its power of een to vont of the ascending unelaborated 
sap. 
