MINOR CARNIVORA. 147 



and digested in a manner analogous to digestion in 

 animals, the products being absorbed for the benefit 

 of the plant. In the second class there are facilities 

 for the capture of insects in the pitchers of the Side- 

 saddle flowers, and the bladders of the Bladderworts, 

 but the power of digestion is not present, or has not 

 been demonstrated, although there may be the power 

 of absorbing from the decay of imprisoned animals 

 their nitrogenous products. In the first class there 

 are also, in some cases, spontaneous movements de- 

 signed to aid in the capture of insects which arc 

 absent in the second. In the Sundews, the captive, 

 rendered helpless by a viscid secretion, is slowly 

 embraced by sensitive tentacles. In the Fly-trap 

 it is caught by a quick movement, as in a trap, 

 and squeezed to death. In the Butterworts, the 

 capture is accomplished by the profuse tenacious 

 slime, little, or not at all, aided by the curvature of the 

 margins of the leaves ; and in the Pitcher-plants 

 there is no spontaneous movement, but an adaptation 

 of parts so as to lure insects to their own destruction. 

 In order that there may be no doubt that the 

 capture of insects is not "accidental," but a vital 

 process resulting in benefit to the plant, investiga- 

 tions by the aid of the microscope have demonstrated 

 that the absorption of animal matter, or fluids of a 

 like composition, act in a peculiar manner by causing 

 aggregation of protoplasm in the adjacent cells. 



L 2 



