W 
oF 
Cuar. XV.] THEIR POWER OF ABSORPTION. 281 
dead flies had evidently long lain, were of a pale dirty purple colour or 
even almost colourless, and the granular matter within them presented. 
an unusual and somewhat peculiar appearance. That these glands. had 
absorbed animal matter from the flies, probably by exosmose into the 
viscid secretion, we may infer, not only from their changed colour, but 
because, when placed in a solution of carbonate of ammonia, some of 
the cells in their pedicels become filled with granular matter ; whereas 
the cells of other hairs, which had not caught flies, after being treated 
with the same solution for the same length of time, contained only a 
small quantity of granular matter. But more evidence is neces-ary 
before we fully admit that the glands of this saxifrage can absorb, 
even with ample time allowed, animal matter from the minute insects 
which they occasionally and accidentally capture. 
Saxifraga rotundifolia (?).—The hairs on the flower-stems of this 
species are longer than those just described, and bear pale brown glands. 
Many were examined, and the cells of the pedicels were quite trans- 
parent. A bent stem was immersed for 30 m. in a solution of one 
part of carbonate of ammonia to 109 of water, and two or three of the 
uppermost cells in the pedicels now contained granular or aggregated 
matter; the glands having become of a bright yellowish-green. ‘The 
glands of this species therefore absorb the carbonate much more 
quickly than do those of Saxifraga umbrosa, and the upper cells of the 
pedicels are likewise atiected much more quickly. Pieces of the stem 
were cut off and immersed in the same solution; and now the process 
of aggregation travelled up the hairs in a reversed direction ; the cells 
close to the cut surfaces being first affected. 
Primula sinensis.—Vhe flower-stems, the upper and lower surfaces 
of the leaves and their footstalks, are all clothed with a multitude of 
longer and shorter hairs. The pedicels of the longer hairs are divided 
by transverse partitions into eight or nine cells. The enlarged ter- 
minal cell is globular, forming a gland which secretes a variable amount 
of thick, slightly viscid, not acid, brownish-yellow matter. 
A piece of a young flower-stem was first immersed in distilled water 
for 2 hrs. 30 m., and the glandular hairs were not at all affected. 
Another piece, bearing twenty-five short and nine long hairs, was 
carefully examined. ‘lhe glands of the latter contained no solid or 
semi-solid matter; and those of only two of the twenty-five short hairs 
contained some globules. This piece was then immersed for 2 hrs. 
in a solution of one part of carbonate of ammonia to 109 of water, 
and now the glands of the twenty-five shorter hairs, with two or three 
exceptions, contained either one large or from two to five smaller 
spherical masses of semi-solid matter. Three of the glands of the 
nine long hairs likewise included similar masses. In a few hairs there 
were also globules in the cells immediately beneath the glands. 
Looking to all thirty-fonr hairs, there could be no doubt that the 
glands had absorbed some of the carbonate. Another piece was left 
for only 1 hr. in the same solution, and aggregated matter appeared 
in all the glands. Myson Francis examined some glands of the longer 
