100 



size with the growth of the plant, it is proved to be a true parasite. 

 The figures will show the connection of the knobs and radical fibres 

 perhaps better than can be explained by words. 



I scarcely wonder that any one should consider Monotropa to be 

 non-parasitical, for it requires the utmost care and patience in the ex- 

 amination ; and it is only after much attention that I have arrived at 

 the persuasion that it is really a parasite. The full-grown plant is 

 naturally examined by all who have the opportunity, but here the at- 

 tempt to trace the connection between its stem and the roots of the 

 beech, is rendered so difficult, if not impossible, by the impermeable 

 mass of fibres, mould, and fleshy clusters* that appear, that it becomes 

 no easy matter to untie the truly Gordian knot. Added to which the 

 stem of the Monotropa tapers down to so narrow a junction with its root, 

 that it generally breaks off in the examination. Besides, the whole 

 mass is obscured with a hirsuture that appears like a byssoid fungus. 

 These hairy fibres, however, appear to me to be really part of the eco- 

 nomy of the plant, imbibing nutriment fi'om the rootlets of the beech, 

 to which they are closely applied, and conveying it to the succulent ra- 

 dicles of the Monotropa, with which they are also connected. In proof 

 of this I find these hairy fibres closely applied to the swollen rootlets 

 in the smallest plants that I have been able to find. As I before sta- 

 ted, therefore, I perceived it expedient to hunt for young unexpanded 

 plants, their connection with the roots of the beech being more readily 

 observable than in matured flowering ones, from the cause previously 

 mentioned. In every case the only clear way to observe the connec- 

 tion of the roots of the beech with those of the Monotropa, is to steep 

 the hirsute knob at the root of the latter in water, after clearing away 

 as much of the mould as possible, and then placing the moistened 

 mass on paper, carefully examine it with a magnifier. The fleshy 

 roots of the Monotropa will then appear as if covered with a varnish, 

 inextricably mixed up with the beech rootlets, which in various pla- 

 ces appear swollen at their junction with the parasite, while a close 

 examination shows ultimate hairy fibres fixing the roots of the Mono- 

 tropa to the rootlets of the beech, and seeming to absorb nutriment 

 from the alburnum of the latter. The rootlets thus circumstanced are 

 evidently in a living state, vigorous, and sending forth their minute 

 spongioles in all directions. 



The question still remains for elucidation, as to how the seed of the 



* The fleshy clustered radicles of the Monotropa bear a considerahle resemblance 

 to the " densely aggregated fleshy fibres" which form the root of Listera Nidus-Avis. 

 Xhey are as succulent, but still more crowded and brittle than in the latter plant. 



