183 
And then what happens? 
The next two pictures will show you (Figs. 158, 159). 
The red hairs close slowly but surely over the insect, 
whose legs are already caught and held fast zs 
; : a AQ 
by the sticky drops it mistook for nectar, Nike 
and they hold it imprisoned till it dies and sen} 
its juices are sucked in by the leaf. 
I should like you to satisfy yourselves 
that these leaves act in the way I have de- 
scribed. Buta bit of fresh meat will excite } i 
the red hairs to do their work quite as ¢ 
well as an insect, and I hope in your 
experiments you will be merciful as well *~ 
as inquiring. es 
So you see that the little sundew is quite 
as cruel in its way as the other insect- 
eating plants. But its gentle looks seem to 
have deceived the poet Swinburne, who won- 
ders how and what these little plants feel, whether like 
ourselves they love life and air and sunshine. 
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“A little marsh-plant, yellow-green 
And tipped at lip with tender red, 
Tread close, and either way you tread, 
Some faint, black water jets between 
Lest you should bruise its curious head. 
“You call it sundew; how it grows, 
If with its color it have breath, 
If life taste sweet to it, if death 
Pain its soft petal, no man knows, 
Man has no sight or sense that saith.” 
