46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Possibly they may have noticed that the sticky leaves of the but- 

 terwort [Phiguicula vulgaris) are sometimes strongly incurved. 



If, observing these matters, they have given them but a passing 

 thought ; have failed to see the relation, or apprehend the motives of 

 the phenomena ; and are surprised some day by learning that they 

 point to one of the most wonderful discoveries of modern biology 

 they need reproach themselves with no excejDtional heedlessness or ob- 

 tuseness, for they have the illustrious company of most of the famous 

 botanists from Linnseus down to those of the present generation. 



Some attention has recently been called to the carnivorous habits 

 of what Dr. Hooker calls " our brother-organisms plants," by the 

 aj)pearance in different scientific periodicals of some brief note, or 

 paper, by occasional observers ; and more generally by Prof. Gray's 

 papers which appeared in the Nation, April, 1874, pp. 216, 232, in 

 which he announced some of the facts that had been communicated 

 by Mr. Darwin and others. Some of these statements must, it should 

 be said, be modified in the light of later observations. 



It has turned out, as so often it does, that some of the more obvious 

 observations and conclusions were made and drawn long ago, and 

 recorded only to be overlooked and forgotten. The subject has a his- 

 tory running back a century or more. It is of more than common in- 

 terest, and has been well told by Dr. Joseph Hooker, in his address to 

 the department of Zoology and Botany, British Association, Belfast, 

 August, 1874. Much condensed, it is as follows : 



Dioncjea, About 1768, Ellis, a well-known English naturalist, 

 sent to Linnteus a drawing of a plant, to which he gave the poetical 

 name of Dioncea. " The plant," wrote Ellis, " shows that Nature may 

 have some views toward its nourishment in forming the upper joint 

 of its leaf like a machine to catch food; upon the middle of this lies 

 the bait for the unhappy insect that becomes its prey. Many minute 

 red glands that cover its surface tempt the animal to taste them ; and, 

 the instant these tender parts are irritated by its feet, the two lobes 

 rise up, grasp it fast, lock the rows of spines together, and squeeze it 

 to death. And further, lest the strong efforts for life in the creature, 

 just taken, should serve to disengage it, three small spines are fixed 

 near the middle of each lobe, among the glands, that effectually put 

 an end to its struggles. Nor do the lobes ever open again while the 

 dead animal continues there. It is nevertheless certain that the plant 

 cannot distinguish an animal from a vegetable or mineral substance ; 

 for, if we introduce a straw or pin between the lobes, it will grasp it 

 fully as fast as if it were an insect." 



This account, substantially correct, but erroneous in some particu- 

 lars, led Linnaeus to declare that, though he had seen and examined 

 no small number of plants, he had never met with so wonderful a 

 phenomenon. He was, however, too sagacious to accept Ellis's accoimt 

 of the coup-de-grace which the insects received from the three stiff 



