THE LIVING STRUCTURES 145 



about and it may be weeks before the dreadful burden 

 can be thrown aside. During this time the most dreadful 

 wounds are produced and as well the creature is very 

 likely to fall a victim to some beast of prey. In this con- 

 nection a very singular happening sometimes occurs 

 which is well authenticated ; viz., a lion captures an ante- 

 lope with a grapple root on his foot; when making his 

 meal, the lion gets the hook capsule in his jaws and the 

 barbs speedily become entangled in the mouth parts. 

 The more the lion fidgets the less likely is he to get rid 

 of the encumbrance, but owing to the pain and annoyance 

 the beast cannot leave his mouth alone, so the miserable 

 business goes on. Days pass and the lion is quite unable 

 to eat and as a consequence becomes weak and helpless. 

 So the king of beasts dies, killed by the fruit of the Grap- 

 ple plant. 



It is of course recognized that plants must take certain 

 means to protect themselves against the attacks of 

 animals. Some of the measures which have been adopted 

 are positively vindictive. Take the case of the common 

 stinging nettle. Here the plant is covered with minute 

 hairs which penetrate the skin and at the same time in- 

 ject an irritant poison, the effect of which lasts fr hours. 

 Some of the tropical nettles are much more terrible. The 

 following is an account taken from the Himalyan Journal 

 of Sir Joseph Hooker in which an Indian Nettle is de- 

 scribed : "This plant, called 'Mealum-Ma,' attains fif- 

 teen feet in height. It has broad glossy leaves and though 

 apparently without stings is held in such a great dread 

 that I had difficulty in getting men to help cut it down. 

 No wonder that the plant is avoided, for if a person is 

 stung by the microscopic hairs the results are appalling. 

 The pain is at first comparatively slight, but after a few 

 hours the effected part feels as if it were being rubbed 



