THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. 161 



the taste of a great number of birds, is carried 

 from tree to tree and deposited on the branches. 

 Here it germinates, the leafy stem rising upward 

 and the roots flowing as it were down the trunk 

 until they reach the soil. At first these aerial roots 

 are soft and delicate, with apparently no more 

 power for evil than so many small streams of 

 pitch, which they resemble in their slowly flowing 

 motion downward. Here and there they branch, 

 especially if an obstruction is met with, when the 

 stream either changes its course or divides to right 

 and left. Meanwhile, leafy branches have been 

 developed, which push themselves through the 

 canopy above and get into the light, where their 

 growth is enormously accelerated. As this takes 

 place the roots have generally reached the ground 

 and begun to draw sustenance from below to 

 strengthen the whole plant. Then comes a 

 wonderful development. The hitherto soft aerial 

 roots begin to harden and spread wider and wider, 

 throwing out side branches which flow into and 

 amalgamate with each other until the whole tree- 

 trunk is bound with a series of irregular living 

 hoops. 



The strangler is now ready for its deadly work. 

 The forest giant, like all exogens, must have room 

 to increase in girth, and here he is bound by cords 



ii 



