The ripe seeds firmly adhere to the substance on which they are applied, by means of their viscid envelope, which soon hardens into a transparent glue. In the course of two or three days, the radicle curves towards its support, and, as soon as it reaches it, becomes dilated and flattened. An union is gradually formed between the woody system of the parasite and that of the stock, after which the former lives exclusively on the latter, the fibres of the sucker-like root of the parasite expanding on the wood of the support in the form of a _pate d'oie_. Up to that time the parasite had been nourished by its own albumen, which is now exhausted. As soon as the young parasite has acquired the height of one or two inches, when an additional supply of nourishment is required, a lateral shoot is sent out, which is, especially towards the point, of a green colour. This at one, or two, and subsequently at various points, adheres to the support by means of sucker-like productions, which are precisely similar in structure and mode of attachment to the original seminal one. The fibres of the parasite never penetrate beyond their original attachment; in the adult the sucker-bearing shoots frequently run to a considerable distance, many plants being literally covered with parasites, all of which have originated from one and the same seed.[58] [Illustration: YOUNG PLANT OF LORANTHUS.] In this case, again, how delusive would be any inference of actual lapse of time deduced from the condition of a plant, which had been created as an adult capable of reproducing its race! Here is a great impenetrable thicket of Prickly Pear. The delicate sulphur-hued flowers expand their broad bosoms to the sun, and the swelling fruit beneath is already putting on its lovely blush of crimson. How curious are the leafless but leaf-like dilatations of the stem--these flat oval plates of parenchyma, studded with clusters of woody and most acute spines!--Every one of these expansions is an expression of time, as they are of course successive, though several may be formed in a single season; and not only so, but the tufts of spines, which grow at the points of intersection of crossing lines, in a network pattern, are all successive, appearing in turn as the expanded joint of the stem grows out. The jointed dilatations themselves are, however, transitory; in the slow lapse of years the common woody axis enlarges, and the interspaces between the oval plates become gradually filled up with cellular tissue, and thus are obliterated; the stem, as may be seen in the central part of this spreading thicket, becoming round, almost smooth, and of dense woody texture. "This condition is the result of many years," you say. It is so, in the ordinary course of nature; but in the case before us, it has been educed in a totally different manner, and by a totally different energy, viz. prochronically, by the omnipotent fiat of the Creator.