VEGETABLE MUSCIPULA. 81 



I cannot find, in any of the authors whom I have consulted, 

 any mention of the curious property of the Asclepias syriaca, 

 which 1 have described : and yet this is a very common vege- 

 table, not only in America, but likewise in the old world. It 

 is evident, how ever, from a passage in the Genera Plantarum 

 of Mr. De Jussieu, that the fly-catching property of some 

 species of Asclepias has been noticed, before me. in describ- 

 ing the organa serualia of this family of plants, the learned 

 French botanist has the following words: " An potius circum- 

 scripta sexu, non pro polline tantum, sed pro antheris etiam 

 habenda corpuscula quorum valvulas contrahunt distrahuntve 

 cornua, vectium elasticorum more sa?pe muscicapa, non aliis 

 nata faboribus." I may add, that the flowers of the Apocinum 

 androsaemifolium, a North-American vegetable, very nearly 

 allied to the genus Asclepias, have been shown, by Dr. Darwin 

 and other writers, to be endued with the property of catching 

 insects. 



It is a curious fact, which may be worth mentioning, in 

 this place, that several of the Contortee, or Contorted plants, to 

 which the genera Asclepias and Apocinum belong, prove de- 

 structive to insects, in various ways. I shall not repeat what 

 I have already said, concerning the two genera, just mention- 

 ed. It is a well-ascertained fact, that flies, mistaking it would 

 seem (for instinct often errs) the peculiarly fetid flowers of the 

 Stapelia variegata for putrid flesh, deposit their eggs upon the 

 petals of this plant. As this is not a proper nidus for the eggs, 

 the young ones, when hatched, soon perish. The common 

 Rosebay, or Oleander (Nerium Oleander) is another of the 

 Contorted plants. It has long been known, that this is a poi- 

 sonous plant. But I do not know, that any person than my- 

 self has observed, that this fine vegetable proves very destruc- 

 tive to the common house-flies. These insects visit the Olean- 

 der, in order to drink the fluid secreted in the tube of its 

 flowers. The liquor soon intoxicates them, and very few of 

 those which have gained admittance into the blossom, ever re- 

 turn from it. So great is the number of flies destroyed, in the 

 course of one season, by a single Oleander, that I have often 

 thought it would be worth our while to pay more attention, 



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