PLANTS THAT ROB AND MURDER 71 



cms spiders; still others are striped like strange 

 lizards. 



From India we get ivory-like species of velvety 

 white and gold; from the American tropics come 

 brilliant specimens whose colours blend so gradu- 

 ally and harmoniously as to form the most charm- 

 ing of floral rainbows. In the Philippine Islands 

 are found eerie moth-orchids, with spikes of flow- 

 ers which remind one of tinted snow-crystals swing- 

 ing on a spider's web. 



All of these wonderful robber plants seem to 

 have nothing to do but to be beautiful. Lounging 

 in the tree-tops, they laugh in all their glory, bid- 

 ding mankind to "consider the lilies of the field, how 

 they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin" ; and 

 yet these parasitic orchids array themselves so gor- 

 geously as to challenge all imitation! 



