130 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



nettle, a trifle less degenerate as yet than 

 the dodder. This broomrape has acquired 

 somewhat the same habits as the other plant, 

 only that it fixes itself on the roots of clover 

 or broom, from which it sucks nutriment by 

 its own root, as the dodder does by its stem- 

 suckers. Of course it still retains in most 

 particulars its original characteristics as a 

 dead-nettle ; it grows with their upright stem 

 and their curiously shaped flowers, so specially 

 adapted for fertilisation by insect visitors. 

 But it has naturally lost its leaves, for which 

 it has no further use, and it possesses no 

 chlorophyll, as the mistletoe does. Yet it 

 has not probably been parasitic for as long a 

 time as the dodder, since it still retains a 

 dwindling trace of its leaves in the shape of 

 dry purply scales, something like those of 

 young asparagus shoots. These leaves are 

 now, in all likelihood, actually undergoing a 

 gradual atrophy, and we may fairly expect 

 that in the course of a few thousand years 

 they will disappear altogether. At present, 



