152 APOCYNUM ANDROSEMIF OLIUM. 
common and well known in Massachusetts, yet 
I have never heard it suspected of deleterious 
- properties. 
The flowers of the Apocynum have a power 
of catching flies and small insects which was as- 
eribed by Dr. Darwin to an irritability in the in- 
ternal organs. Mr, Curtis in the Botanical mag- 
azine, has considered this subject at large, and 
ascribes the property to a more rational cause. 
In consequence of the close convergency of the 
anthers and their adhesion to the stigma, a nar- 
row fissure or slit exists, which becomes more 
contracted near the top. The insect in search of 
the honey at the bottom of the flower, inserts his 
proboscis between the stamens into the cavity 
within them. In extricating it from this situa- 
tion the proboscis is sometimes caught in the fis- 
sure, and in proportion to the efforts made by the 
insect to escape it becomes more closely wedged 
in the upper part of the slit, so that its deliverance 
by its own powers becomes at length impractica- 
ble. Musquitoes, gnats, and small flies are fre- 
quently found dead in this confinement. — 
