INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS 293 



count of this singular plant which had then appeared. 

 He remarks that " the little prisoner is not crushed 

 and suddenly destroyed, as is sometimes supposed," 

 for he had often liberated " captive flies and spiders, 

 which sped away as fast as fear or joy could hasten 

 them." But he neglected to state, although he must 

 have noticed the fact, that the two sides of the trap, 

 at first concave to the contained insect, at length flat- 

 ten and close down firmly upon the prey, exerting no 

 inconsiderable pressure, and insuring the death of any 

 soft-bodied insect, if it had not already succumbed to 

 the confinement and salivation. This last Dr. Curtis 

 noticed, and first discerned its import, although he 

 hesitated to pronounce upon its universality. That 

 the captured insects were in some way " made sub- 

 servient to the nourishment of the plant " had been 

 conjectured from the first. Dr. Curtis "at times 

 [and he might have always at the proper time] found 

 them enveloped in a fluid of mucilaginous consistence, 

 which seems to act as a solvent, the insects being more 

 or less consumed in it." This was verified and the di- 

 gestive character of the liquid well-nigh demonstrated 

 six or seven years ago by Mr. Canby, of Wilmington, 

 Delaware, who, upon a visit to the sister-town of 

 North Carolina, and afterward at his home, followed 

 up Dr. Curtis's suggestions with some capital observa- 

 tions and experiments. These were published at 

 Philadelphia in the tenth volume of Meehan's Gar- 

 deners' Monthly, August, 1868 ; but they do not ap- 

 pear to have attracted the attention which they 

 merited. 



The points which Mr. Canby made out are, that 



