A GIANT PARASITE. 35 



" What an enormous blossom !" exclaimed Mary, 

 " I pity the tree that has to support it. You told 

 us one day that lazy men and women are called 

 ' parasites 'when they live at the expense of their 

 friends, without doing anything for their own sup- 

 port ; this immense flower must be a very expen- 

 sive parasite, and must wear out the poor tree very 

 soon." 



" All these strange plants form a sort of inter- 

 mediate class between the flowerless and the 

 flowering ; and I have mentioned them to you to- 

 day, because I would not too- closely connect them 

 with the important division of the vegetable king- 

 dom which will form our next subject. 



