136 LIFE OF A TREE. 
surface of this leaf, is instantly not only captured 
but often squeezed or pierced to death by the 
two sides of the leaf springing up and clasping 
it between their cruel embrace. The English 
Fly-trap, the Sun-dew, a tenant of the bog and 
marsh, has the same class of movements, catching 
its prey by the viscid, birdlime-like juice which 
exudes from the hairs on the surface of its bril- 
liant red leaves,—and subsequently the leaves fold 
over the prisoner, Some curious experiments 
have been made with a view to ascertain whether 
this peculiar property of seizing upon insects was 
connected with a taste in the plant for such a 
sort of food, and a Venus’s Fly-trap was fed with 
pieces of raw meat, and it was actually found 
that it thrived better than one which had no 
such supply of animal food ! 
The flowers of the common berberry-plant, 
and of the geranium, when carefully examined, 
have been frequently found to possess very cu- 
rious movements in some of their parts. And 
those of another genus will, when provoked 
by a fine-pointed instrument, cause their central 
organ or column to fling itself violently from one 
side of the flower to the other. 
