VENUS' S FLY-TRAP. 55 



leaf, being a trap, is made like a trap. But I should 

 not have been able to tell you why the leaf does 

 not at once close on its prey had not Mr. Darwin 

 told me. After having partially closed, as I have 

 said, one of two things may happen. The insect, 

 having been caught, at once begins to think of es- 

 caping, and makes efforts to do so, which may or 

 may not be successful. If it is small, it easily finds 

 its way out through this wonderful grating formed 

 by the crossing of the teeth, and in this case the leaf 

 soon recovers, expands again, and is ready for the 

 capture of another victim. If it is large, all its efforts 

 to regain its liberty are futile. Repelled by its prison- 

 bars, it is driven back upon the sensitive hairs which 

 stick into the interior of its cell, and again irritates 

 them. By doing so it occasions a second and more 

 vigorous contraction of the lobes. The result is, that 

 the creature is not only captured, but crushed ; not 

 only swallowed, but digested." 



The minute structure of the leaves differs in many 

 respects from that of the Sundews. The rigid 

 marginal spines are without glands on their tips, and 

 are not irritable. The three minute filaments which 

 project from the upper surface of both lobes, on the 

 contrary, are remarkable for their extreme sensitive- 

 ness to the touch, but they also are pointed at their 

 extremity. Besides these cuticular appendages the 

 upper surface is thickly covered, except near the 



