78 Mr. Griffith on tlie Derelojmieuf of 



albuinina which are developed in the tissue of the amnios and inclosed in an 

 ordinary integument or integuments, with this obvious difference, that in the 

 subjects under consideration this body is naked. 



There is an evident resemblance between the nipple-shaped process of vis- 

 cum, and the often stipitate, free, central placenta of Santalaceœ, especially 

 when more than one embryo is developed in the above genus*. 



On the Mode of Parasitism. 



The only species in which this has been studied in any detail is the Fiscum 

 album, and even here the statements are not altogether satisfactory. The 

 latest account which I have seen is that of De Candolle in his excellent Phy- 

 siologie Végétale, vol. ii. p. "90, and more fully in vol. iii. p. 1409, where the 

 subject is treated in the usually luminous manner, so characteristic of this 

 distinguished author. 



The mature seeds of all the species of Loranthus adhere strongly to the 

 substance on which they are applied by means of the viscous matter. This 

 viscum soon hardens, and then has the appearance of a transparent glue. The 

 first changes take place in L. Scurrula two or three days after application, 

 and consist of a curvature of the extremity of the radicle towards the sup- 

 port ; this extremity when it reaches this point becoming enlarged and flat- 

 tened f. 



It has now the appearance of a sucker, such as those, for instance, of the 

 Cassi/tha Jilifonnis. I am unable to state the precise manner in which the 

 radicle penetrates the bark. The operation seems to require some time, and 

 it is not until it is completed that the plumula begins to be developed. In 

 those species the cotyledons of which are soldered together, the plumula 

 passes out by one of the clefts ; in the others by the fissure between these 

 two bodies. The cotyledons in all the species I have examined remain in- 

 closed in the albumen, which substance begins to disappear as soon as tiie 

 plumula commences to be developed; the cotyledons undergoing a corre- 



* Compare the figures 2 and 3 of Viscum with that of the placenta of Thesium linophyîlum. Bron- 

 gniart Stir la Gviu'ration des Véffc'taiix, Plate 43, fig. 3. B & C. 

 t See Tab. VII. fig. 1, 2, 3, 4&5. 



