CHAPTER XII. 



ROBBERY AND MURDER. 



It is a difficult matter in analysing the various 

 sensations produced in our minds by studying the 

 habits of plants and their organs — all of which 

 illustrate some of those great principles of Human 

 Conduct around which the crises of history have 

 revolved — to sufficiently separate one class from 

 another by well-defined lines. Degrading poverty 

 so often leads with ourselves to crime that we cannot 

 wonder if the same inflexible condition has caused 

 reduced and pauperised plants to resort to a parasitic 

 life — that is, to live by preying upon others, to the 

 detriment and even death of the latter. 



The most remarkable fact which strikes the 

 botanist as he approaches the study of plants from 

 this side is the varying degrees in which parasitism 

 prevails, and how the habit has been indulged in by 

 plants whose relationships are as wide asunder as 

 possible. One chief cause for their assuming this 

 mode of life suggests itself — inability to compete on 



