60 PREDATORY PLANTS. [CHAP. 
highly irritable, short stiff hairs. The surface of the 
leaf is also covered with a number of small purple 
glands. When touched by an insect, the irritable 
bristles communicate the irritation to the lobes of 
the leaf, which suddenly close together, imprisoning 
the luckless insect. The purple glands, also excited, 
now pour out an acid fluid, which has the power of 
digesting the body of the insect, which is then absorbed 
by the same glands. The leaf remains closed for a 
period of from nine to twenty-four days, and on re- 
opening, is found to have lost its sensitiveness, which, 
however, soon returns. It is so sensitive that should 
a particle of earth, or other non-nitrogenous sub- 
stance, be placed upon the leaf, it immediately closes 
up, but again opens in perhaps twenty-four hours, 
and is at once sensitive. The process which goes 
on after the capture of an insect is very similar to that 
of digestion in animals. The two lobes of the leaf 
form a closed stomach, in which the insect is con- 
tained, and from the inner walls of which the digestive 
