DROSEEA MACRANTHA AND D. STRICTICAULIS 35 



apex of the lamina ; the others expand when the lamina comes 

 to rest. All of the marginal row bend back till they touch, 

 or nearly touch, the back of the lamina in the course of unfolding. 

 I see no reason for this strong reflexion, from which they return 

 gradually, and finally come to rest approximately in the plane of 

 the rim. This applies to the first few to unfold, if they do not 

 secure work as climbing organs. The leaves which cling to 

 supports catch and digest insects as freely as the leaves devoted 

 entirely to assimilation. 



The plant soon becomes too top-heavy to stand erect without 

 support ; so, if it fail to find one, it is compelled to lie prostrate. 

 In such a case the apex turns upwards, continues to elongate 

 (making a fresh erect stem, so to speak, some little distance from 

 the first) and search for a support, which the plant may some- 

 times attain its full length (two feet or more) without finding. 

 When this happens, only a short portion of the stem bearing the 

 inflorescence will be found erect at the flowering season. 



The mature lamina hangs horizontally facing the earth. Posi- 

 tive geotropism seems to be the directing agent ; for, if a stem be 

 bent away from the vertical, the young laminae come to rest 

 normally with relation to the earth, but at an abnormal angle with 

 the petiole, or lamina and petiole together take up an abnormal 

 position with relation to the stem. Mature laminae are fixed in 

 position, relatively to the rest of the plant, notwithstanding that 

 their petioles are flexible. 



The only response the laminae show to light is a reddening of 

 their more brightly lighted sides. The apparent absence of photo- 

 tropism surprised me not a little, so I made several experiments 

 on plants in pots, but completely failed to detect any movement 

 of any part of the leaf in response to light incidence. The young 

 shoot-tip is strongly positively phototropic. 



Eound York this species comes into bloom early in August. 

 The inflorescence is a corymb of cincinni. The flowers are pure 

 white and beautiful, even apart from their surroundings ; but 

 when, as often happens, the plants grow amongst fairly dense 

 subscrub on " sand plains " a scene of great beauty presents itself 

 at flowering time. The corymbs are reared a few inches above 

 the supporting bushes, and so well does the dull green background 

 set off the snow-white blossoms, whose beauty is still further 

 enhanced by the glistening tentacles on the leaves below them, 

 that the sight is one never to be forgotten. 



The flower is strictly ephemeral ; the petals unfold soon after 

 9 a.m. and close up just before sunset (or about 5 p.m.) never to 

 open again. Smelt from a few inches distance — as far from the 

 flower as the human nose can detect — the odour is faint and 

 mildly pleasant ; but if a strong sniff is taken close to the blossom 

 it is quite disgusting. It recalls some definite compound, but I 

 have not yet succeeded in recollecting what ; there is a suggestion 

 of ammonia, so I have set it down in my table as "aminoid (?)." 



Soon after the flower opens the anthers dehisce. The valves 

 roll back and each anther becomes a golden fusiform rod, rough 



d 2 



