THE MISTLETOE BOUGH. 117 



to pay rent in any shape or form. Into the substance 

 of the apple-tree, the parasite has dipped its sucking 

 roots, and a whole array of these roots is seen in my 

 section, serving to drink up into the mistletoe-plant 

 the sap which the apple-tree has made and elaborated 

 for its own use. There is no intermingling here of 

 parasite and prey. It is an attachment pure and 

 simple for purposes of lodgment and food. 



If you go back in mistletoe-life perchance you may 

 trace the beginning of this curious habit. The berries 

 of mistletoe, when examined closely, are seen to 

 contain a very glutinous fluid. The ripe berry is, in 

 fact, a mass of vegetable gum, which is developed in 

 the rind or covering of the fruit. This gum is part 

 and parcel of a distinct purpose in mistletoe-life. 

 When the birds attack the berries and liberate the 

 seeds, the latter, falling on the bark of trees, adhere 

 thereto by aid of the natural glue they contain or 

 possess. 



This is the first step in the act of parasitism. The 

 bird acts as the unconscious distributor of the mistle- 

 toe seeds, and the plant, which has tacitly bargained 

 for this conveyance (through its offer of a free 

 breakfast-table to the bird), then works out its own 

 life-purposes. Once settled on the bark of the tree, 

 the mistletoe seed, in virtue of its inborn instinct, 

 appreciates its surroundings. 



In the earth, where a respectable seed is at home, 

 it would perish and die. On the apple-tree's bark it 

 is in clover. It has found its haven, and now makes 

 the most of its chance. Germination of the seed is 

 soon set up, and then the radicle, which is simply the 

 youthful root, penetrates the bark of the tree, and 

 seeks out a special layer of the stem of its host. This 



