LESSON 27.] MOVEMENTS. 171 



itself, is this. The leaves of the Sensitive Plant close long before 

 sunset ; but they expand again before sunrise, under much less light 

 than they had when they closed. Besides, in this as in many other 

 plants, the leaves take the nocturnal position when brushed or jarred, 

 in the common Sensitive Plant very suddenly, in other sorts 

 less quickly, in the Honey Locust a little too slowly for us to see 

 the motion. The way in which blossoms open and close, some when 

 the light increases and others when it diminishes, illustrates the same 

 thing. 



492. The stamens of the Barberry, when touched at the base on 

 the inner side, as by an insect seeking for honey, or by the point 

 of a pin, make a sudden jerk forward, and in the process commonly 

 throw some pollen upon the stigma, which stands a little above their 

 reach. In many blossoms, the stamens just at the proper season 

 slowly approach the stigma, and after shedding their pollen recede 

 or wither away. In such cases we plainly perceive that a useful 

 end is subserved. But what shall we say of the Venus's Fly-trap 

 of North Carolina, growing where it is always sure of all the food a 

 plant can need, yet provided with an apparatus for catching insects, 

 and for no other special use that we know of, and actually captur- 

 ing them expertly by a sudden motion, in the manner already de- 

 scribed (126, Fig. 81)? Or of the leaflets of the Desmodium 

 gyrans of the East Indies, or one of the petals of some Orchideous 

 flowers, moving spontaneously in a wide sweep, falling and rising by 

 turns every few seconds for nearly the whole day long ? We can 

 only say, that plants are alive, no less than animals, and that it is a 

 characteristic of living things to move. 



