/XSKCTIl'Oh'OrS /V,.IA"/"S 305 



so sensitive they won Id convey the si<(nal to the 

 hinge of the lobes, and they would instantly rise 

 up and clasp the i\\\ eventually crushing it to 

 death. Then would fDJlow, as in the case of the 

 sundew, the emission of acrid secreticMi and tiie 

 absorption and digestion of the insect. 



Insect-destro)-ing plants arc numerous in the 

 vegetable world. They may be roughly divided 

 into three groups, although there is no strict line 

 of demarcation between them, h'irst, those like 

 the red Ivchnis and others, which, b\' means of 

 sticky liairs, catch and kill small insects, an 

 operation that, so far as we know, results in no 

 special good to the plant. Then there are those, 

 like the sundew, which catch, kill, and digest the 

 insect for food ; whilst the third grouj^ consists of 

 plants which catch and kill insects, but have no 

 digestive process. Decomposition of the captured 

 insects takes jjlace, but the absorption which goes 

 on is simpiv that of the liipu'd products of 

 dccomjjosition, the latter process resulting from 

 the insects being immersed in fluid. To this 

 latter group belong the pitcher plants r Xepenthcs) 

 and sarracenias. These last are North American 



