CHAP. XILL. SECRETION AND ABSORPTION. 297 



leaf, the plant being now covered with a bell-glass. 

 After 24 hrs. the damp meat had excited some acid 

 secretion, and the lobes at this end of the leaf were 

 almost shut. At the other end, where the damp gela- 

 tine lay, the leaf was still quite open, nor had any 

 secretion been excited ; so that, as with Drosera, gela- 

 tine is not nearly so exciting a substance as meat. 

 The secretion beneath the meat was tested by push- 

 ing a strip of litmus paper under it (the filaments not 

 being touched), and this slight stimulus caused the 

 leaf to shut. On the eleventh day it reopened ; but 

 the end where the gelatine lay, expanded several hours 

 before the opposite end with the meat. 



A second bit of roast meat, which appeared dry, 

 though it had not been purposely dried, was left for 

 24 hrs. on a leaf, caused neither movement nor secre- 

 tion. The plant in its pot was now covered with a 

 bell-glass, and the meat absorbed some moisture from 

 the air ; this sufficed to excite acid secretion, and by 

 the next morning the leaf was closely shut. A third 

 bit of meat, dried so as to be quite brittle, was placed 

 on a leaf under a bell-glass, and this also became in 

 24 hrs. slightly damp, and excited some acid secretion, 

 but no movement. 



A rather large piece of perfectly dry albumen was 

 left at one end of a leaf for 24 hrs. without any 

 effect. It was then soaked for a few minutes in 

 water, rolled about on blotting paper, and replaced 

 on the leaf; in 9 hrs. some slightly acid secretion 

 was excited, and in 24 hrs. this end of the leaf was 

 partially closed. The bit of albumen, which was now 

 surrounded by much secretion, was gently removed, 

 and although no filament was touched, the lobes 

 closed. In this and the previous case, it appears that 

 the absorption of animal matter by the glands renders 



