j 
Cuar. XIII] DIONÆA MUSCIPULA. 2P 
CHAPTER XIII. 
DION A MUSCIPULA. 
Structure of the leaves—Sensitiveness of the filaments—Rapid movement of 
the lobes caused by irritation of the filaments—Glands, their power of 
secretion—Slow movement caused by the absorption of animal matter— 
Evidence of absorption from the aggregated condition of the glands— 
Digestive power of the secretion—Action of chloroform, ether, and hydro- 
cyanic acid—The manner in which insects are captured—Use of the 
marginal spikes—Kinds of insects captured—The transmission of the 
motor impulse and mechanism of the movements—Re-expansion of the 
lobes. 
Tus plant, commonly called Venus’ fly-trap, from the rapidity 
and force of its movements, is one of the most wonderful in 
the world.* It is a member of the small family of the 
Droseracex, and is found only in the eastern part of North 
Carolina, growing in damp situations. The roots are small ; 
those of a moderately fine plant which I examined consisted 
of two branches about 1 inch in length, springing from a 
bulbous enlargement. They probably serve, as in the case 
of Drosera, solely for the absorption of water ; fora gardener, 
who has been very successful in the cultivation of this plant, 
grows it, like an epiphytic orchid, in well-drained damp 
moss without any soil.t The form of the bilobed leaf, with 
its foliaceous footstalk, is shown in the accompanying drawing 
(fig. 12). The two lobes stand at rather less than a right 
angle to each other. Three minute pointed processes or fila- 
ments, placed triangularly, project from the upper surfaces of 
both ; but I have seen two leaves with four filaments on each 
side, and another with only two. These filaments are 
* Dr. Hooker, in his address to [A good account of the early 
the British Association at Belfast, literature is given by Kurtz in Reich- 
1874, has given so full an historical ert and Du Bois-Reymond’s ‘ Archiv.’ 
account of the observations which 1876.—F. D.] 
have been published on the habits of + ‘Gardener’s Chronicle,’ 1874, p. 
this plant, that it would be super- 464, 
fluous on my part to repeat them. 
