294 DARWIXIANA. 



this fluid is always poured out around the captured 

 insect in due time, " if the leaf is in good condition 

 and the prey suitable ; " that it conies from the leaf 

 itself, and not from the decomposing insect (for, when 

 the trap caught a plum-curculio, the fluid was poured 

 out while he was still alive, though very weak, and 

 endeavoring, ineffectually, to eat his way out); that 

 bits of raw beef, although sometimes rejected after 

 a while, were generally acted upon in the same man- 

 ner — i. e., closed down upon tightly, slavered with 

 the liquid, dissolved mainly, and absorbed ; so that, in 

 fine, the fluid may well be said to be analogous to the 

 gastric juice of animals, dissolving the prey and ren- 

 dering it fit for absorption by the leaf. Many leaves 

 remain inactive or slowly die away after one meal ; 

 others reopen for a second and perhaps even a third 

 capture, and are at least capable of digesting .a second 

 meal. 



Before Mr. Canby's experiments had been made, 

 we were aware that a similar series had been made in 

 England by Mr. Darwin, with the same results, and 

 with a small but highly-curious additional one — 

 namely, that the fluid secreted in the trap of Dionsea, 

 like the gastric juice, has an acid reaction. Having 

 begun to mention unpublished results (too long al- 

 lowed to remain so), it may be well, under the circum- 

 stances, to refer to a still more remarkable experiment 

 by the same most sagacious investigator. By a prick 

 with a sharp lancet at a certain point, he has been 

 able to paralyze one-half of the leaf -trap, so that it 

 remained motionless under the stimulus to which the 

 other half responded. Such high and sensitive organ- 



