40 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



by poor small plants in my greenhouse during 

 November ; and it seemed in the highest degree 

 improbable that so hard a substance would be 

 digested under such unfavourable circumstances. 

 Nevertheless, after forty-eight hours, the cubes were 

 largely dissolved, and converted into minute spheres, 

 surrounded by transparent, very acid fluid. Two of 

 these spheres were completely softened to their 

 centres, whilst the third still contained a very small 

 irregularly-shaped core of solid cartilage. Their 

 surfaces were seen under the microscope to be 

 curiously marked by prominent ridges, showing that 

 the cartilage had been unequally corroded by the 

 secretion. I need hardly say that cubes of the same 

 cartilage, kept in water for the same length of time, 

 were not in the least affected."^ 



The fact, therefore, is clearly established, that the 

 secretion from the glands of the Sundew, under cer- 

 tain conditions of stimulation, is capable of dissolving 

 animal substances, in precisely the same manner as 

 they are acted upon during the process of digestion 

 in the stomach of animals. It remains to be seen 

 what evidence there is in support of the absorption, 

 and assimilation, of the substances so digested. Here 

 it would be essential to show, in the first instance, that 

 the glands in question possess the power of absorp- 



' Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants," p. 104. 



