Vol. 3 ee 7.] The Loranthus Parasite. 193 
[N.S.] 
(1) ‘The tree-growth of the station consists largely of oaks 
ae which the Moru species predominates 
2) Owing to the climatic conditions to which the trees 
are exposed and the resultant dampness of the air, their ane 
and branches are thickly enveloped in mossy c coats. e pre 
ence of these coats doubtless greatly facilitates the spread of ths 
pest, since the seed is carried about by birds and possibly ad- 
heres by means of its viscid coating to the hairs of small mammals, 
and is thus spread through their agency as well. From both 
e 
viscid state of the seed; this ae also probably affords 
it a eet chance of successful germination. 
commonly accepted theory on the subject of the spread 
of Tokai vAoects plants by birds is that the seeds pass through 
the digestive canals, and, being voided with the excrements, are 
then in a peculiarly favourable condition for gproine fon, the 
seeds being dgposited on the branches of the trees.! 
. G. M. Ryan, I.F.S., has proved this to be ia case in 
the Konkan * whets he states that Loranthus longi 
ite is parasitic on ‘the sal ae robusta, ade) in the 
Siwaliks. By personal observations Mr. Ryan was able to show 
that the viscid seeds of L. longiflorus are spread by the bird 
Diceum erythrorhyncus, Lath. The bird plucks the berries from 
the parasite, extracts the seed from the epicarp, and after swallow- 
ing it whole clears the viscid metter from the inside of the epicarp 
posited on a branch of the tree to which it adheres owing to its 
Viscid surfac ce. 
4 
of the Loranthacee is panikeg is, ee ee by @ tz A 
contributed iad ke Transactions of the Linnaean Society ° by 
Mr. iE 
The Di Sibert of Mistletoe,” by H. P. C. Ashworth, in The Victo- 
rian eetacuiln August 1895. 
ndian Fo cai es vol. xxv, 472. 
8 Trans. Linn. Soc Weaden: Qnd Ser., vol. v, p. 96. 
