SEDGE AND WOODRUSH. 17 



their livelihood in some new and disreputable 

 manner rendered possible by nature's latest 

 achievements. The degraded types live 

 lower lives, often at the expense of the 

 higher, but they live on somehow ; just as 

 the evolution of man was followed by the 

 evolution of some fifty new parasites, on 

 purpose to feed upon him. 



It would be wrong to suppose, however, 

 that these dry brown petals in the woodrush 

 have now no function at all : they have 

 found out a new one to which they have 

 adapted themselves, although the old one of 

 attracting insects has passed away. When- 

 ever and however the woodrush took once 

 more to the primitive and wasteful method 

 of fertilisation by the wind we cannot say. 

 But it is a low, lithe, grass-like plant, growing 

 with the grasses in the wind-swept meadows ; 

 and almost all the plants of the same habit 

 and habitat are wind - fertilised as well. 

 Living, as they do, in great numbers close 

 together, with bending stems and often 



c 



