MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 65 
a narrow neck, and (2) of a roundish leaf-blade. The latter 
is divided into two symmetrical halves inclined to one another 
like the sides of a half-open book. Both margins of the 
leaf-blade are provided with a fringe of from twelve to twenty 
long, sharp, slender teeth. At the center of the upper surface 
of each half of the leaf-blade there are three very stiff and 
sharp spines standing up obliquely. In addition to these 
processes, microscopic glands capable of secreting a mucil- 
aginous liquid are scattered over the whole upper, or inner 
surface of the leaf-blade. As soon as one of the six sti 
bristles on the two faces of the leaf-blade is touched ever so 
lightly, the leaf shuts up instantaneously, an action not 
unlike the quick closing of a half-open book. The sharp 
marginal teeth are interlocked and the body that touched the 
bristle is enclosed within. 
If this body has no food value, the leaf soon opens again, 
but if it has such value the two lobes of the leaf remain 
closed over the object for a long period. The sides are 
pressed together so tightly that the intervening body, if soft, 
is squeezed and prada 40" to pieces. In addition, the glands 
which are dry so long as the leaf-blade remains open, begin 
to secrete a slimy, colorless, and highly acid juice with diges- 
tive properties. The secretion flows so copiously that it 
covers the imprisoned body and gradually dissolves, or digests, 
the contained albuminous compounds, the soluble products 
of the digestion afterwards being absorbed by the same glands 
which secreted the acid digestive liquid. After digestion and 
absorption, the trap opens, the glands become dry, the parts 
assume their former itions, and the leaf is once more 
equipped for making fresh captures. 
Among the five hundred or more species of insectivorous 
plants now known there is a wide range of botanical rela- 
tionship, several widely separated families being represented. 
Their habits of growth, too, are varied, adapting them to 
various climatic conditions. Some have their traps wholly 
submerged in water and depend for their food upon the 
minute animal life in the water. Others, like those enumer- 
ated above, thrive only in moist locations. Still another 
species is to be found indigenous to arid regions only. 
GRADUATE RESEARCH WORK AT THE GARDEN 
More than two years ago—in the March, 1913, number of 
the ButLeTin—a brief account was given of the laboratories 
in which are conducted the experimental and research work 
of staff and graduate students. Work of this type, as a rule, 
does not come to the attention of the casual visitor. More- 
