132 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



in producing flowers, many of these are very 

 large and handsome ; one huge Sumatran 

 species has a blossom which measures three 

 feet across. On the other hand, their seeds 

 are usually small and very numerous. Thou- 

 sands of seeds must fall on unsuitable places, 

 spring up, and waste all their tiny store of 

 nourishment, find no host at hand on which 

 to fasten themselves, and so die down for 

 want of food. It is only by producing a few 

 thousand young plants for every one destined 

 ultimately to survive that dodders and broom- 

 rapes manage to preserve their types at all. 



