200 LIVING PLANTS 



those of other species to an extent scarcely 

 conceivable. All the tribes of parasitic 

 . .J fungi draw their sustenance from the liv- 



of strife ^"fe host, and give rise to the long category 



of plant ills known as rusts, smuts, mildews, 

 rots, molds and blights. The minutest veg- 

 etable parasites, the bacteria, attack and 

 bring low the largest and most noble forms 

 of both kingdoms, especially being man's 

 most insidious and deadly enemies. With 

 comparatively few exceptions animals of 

 high and low degree, of all sizes, forms and 

 habits, whether inhabiting water, earthor air, 

 from the microscopic amoeba to the bear and 

 the elephant, seize upon and devour in part or 

 in whole other living beings, in order to main- 

 tain their own existence. Not only does the 

 lion kill other beasts of the jungle, the wolf 

 seize the lamb, the owl eat the mouse, and the 

 robin the earthworm, but the ox feeds upon 

 the living grass, the sparrow gourmandizes 

 upon myriads of young plants in the seed 

 stage, and the caterpillar defoliates trees. 

 With the exception of the carrion beetle, the 

 house fly, the nectar- feeding humming bird, 

 and some others, the animal world finds its 

 daily food by destroying the life of other 

 weaker beings, sometimes animal, sometimes 

 plant life being preferred. In this wholesale 

 destruction of life man lends a ready hand. 



