225 
PAEASITISM IN FLOWEEING- PLANTS. 
By HENEY TEIMEN, M.B., F.L.S. 
LECTrEEFv OX Botaxt, St. Mart’s Hospital. 
[PLATES XCIX. and C.] 
I The tendency of words to degenerate in meaning lias frequently 
Been commented on by philologists, and to the more commonly 
I known examples may be added the term ‘ parasite.’ Originally, 
' in early Greek times, applied to the members of a college of 
priests (irapdaLTOL) it possessed simply its grammatical meaning 
! of taking meals in common, but later it came to signify living 
at another’s expense, and was then applied to the contemptible 
j toady and flatterer — one of the stock characters in G-reek and 
Eoman comedy — who would put up with any indignity from 
I his patron for the sake of food and lodging. This character, 
! which the social habits of classical times seem to have brought 
to great perfection, is by no means extinct in our days, though the 
I objects sought by such voluntary degradation may be generally 
’ higher than mere creature enjoyments. The Avord is now how- 
ever rather rarely applied to human beings, nor are we here 
i concerned with such a use of it. In science also, the term para- 
site is given to beings which live upon others in the sense of 
getting from them their food, and is applied to animals which 
, i batten upon others, and to plants which are attached to, and 
i i live upon the juices, either of animals or of other vegetables. 
Such habits, inimical to other creatures, are possessed by a 
I very large number of plants. Probably all the Fungi are para- 
. sites, and a good many attack the lower animals, among insects 
' frequently causing their death ; whilst even the body of man 
himself is the suitable soil for about a score of minute species. 
! Of these lowly organised plants, it is not however intended to 
' speak, and indeed their mode of parasitism is very different from 
that of the flowering plants which follow that mode of life, 
j Among the Phanerogams, we find that there are only five or 
six natural orders all the members of which are parasitic ; but 
there are isolated genera, or species scattered through about a 
YOL. XII. — NO. XLYIII. Q 
