84 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



the idea of stupor. I may state that while watching 

 I observed not a single escape when the lid was 

 down, but after I had turned it back on most of the 

 leaves under examination, a few, but only a few, 

 escaped. And those which escaped, after sipping to 

 repletion, seemed in no wise inebriated."^ 



Pursuing these investigations still further, on an- 

 other occasion he collected the laminse of about 

 one hundred leaves, all sweet with the exudation. 

 Some of these were placed on a table, after candle- 

 light, and attracted a few hungry flies. They re- 

 mained many minutes sipping, and would return to 

 sip, seeming to enjoy the evening meal thus afforded 

 them. Of course there could be no entrapment, as 

 only the honey-bearing portions were exposed. The 

 flies ate, and ate, but no unsteadiness, or tottering, 

 or falling, was in a single instance to be seen ; and, 

 after having satisfied their appetites, the guests re- 

 tired for the night. The following day the same 

 tempting viands were placed before the flies, but 

 there was no evidence of a single case of intoxication. 



If true that the exudation possessed no intoxicat- 

 ing property, sceptics were next led to inquire how 

 it was that insects were entrapped whilst still in 

 possession of all their instincts and faculties unim- 



^ Dr. Asa Gray in " New York Tribune," and " Gardeners 

 Chronicle,'' June 27, 1S74, p. 819. 



