CARNIVOROUS PLANTS 357 



The principal food of the Sundews consists of small insects such 

 as ants, midges, flies, small butterflies and moths, caddis-flies, and 

 even small species of dragon-flies. Some of these, more particularly 

 the long-bodied dragon-flies, the smallest of which are over an 

 inch in length, are much too large to be caught and devoured by 

 a single leaf ; and in this case it is not at all uncommon for two 

 or more leaves to be concerned in the capture and digestion of a 

 single insect, each one converging its filaments towards the part 

 of the body within its reach, and each one digesting and absorbing 

 the portion against which it can apply its glands. 



Insects, however, do not constitute the sole food of these plants, 

 for small worms, spiders, centipedes, &c., are caught and digested 

 in the manner described ; and the plants may also be fed artificially 

 on small pieces of meat or other nitrogenous substances, which give 

 rise to the same processes and movements as we have observed in 

 connection with the natural mode of feeding. 



