INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS 343 
caught by a sticky secretion which proceeds from hairs on 
the leaves. In one of the commonest sundews the leaves 
consist of a roundish blade, borne on a moderately long 
petiole. On the inner surface and round the margin of 
the blade (Fig. 239) are borne a considerable number of 
short bristles, each ter- 
minating in a knob which 
is covered with a clear, 
sticky liquid. When a 
small insect touches one 
of the sticky knobs, he 
is held fast and the hairs 
at once begin to close 
over him, as shown in 
Fig. 240. Here he soon 
dies and then usually re- 
mains for many days, 
_ while the leaf pours out 
a juice by which the 
soluble parts of the insect 
are digested. ‘The liquid 
containing the digested 
portions is then absorbed 
by the leaf and contrib- 
utes an important part of the nourishment of the plant, 
while the undigested fragments, such as legs, wing-cases, 
and so on, remain on the surface of the leaf or may drop 
off after the hairs let go their hold on the captive insect. 
In the Venus flytrap, which grows in the sandy regions 
of eastern North Carolina, the mechanism for catching 
insects is still more remarkable. The leaves, as shown in 
Fic. 241, — Venus Flytrap. 
