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posed to be effected. « The Mistletoe-thrush, which 
feeds upon the berries of this plant in Winter, when 
it is ripe, doth open the seed from tree to tree ; 
for the viscous part of the berry, which immediately 
surrounds the seed, doth sometimes fasten it to the 
outward part of the bird’s beak, which, to get dis- 
engaged of, he strikes at the branches of a neigh- 
bouring tree, and so leaves the seed sticking by the 
viscous matter to the bark, which, if it light upon 
a smooth part of the tree, will fasten itself, and 
the following Winter put out and grow.” Paley 
agréés with this old botanist, omitting, however, the 
Mistle-thrush as the instrument of communication. 
* “ It is asserted that a branch of Mistletoe, 
when placed in water, has no power of absorbing 
this fluid, but that, when the branch to which it 
is attached is immersed, then the water is readily 
absorbed, and pénétrâtes into the Misseltoe itself.” 
The following experiment was made by M. De Can- 
dolle. He immersed a branch of an apple-tree, 
bearing Mistletoe, in water previously coloured with 
cochineal, which, penetrating the wood and inner 
Descriptive and Physiological Botany. 
s 3 
