Absorptive Glands of Carnivorous Plants. By A. W. Bennett. 3 



of the leaves in both genera.* I therefore sent to the ' Popular 

 Science Eeview' for October in that year, a brief and somewhat 

 inadequate description and figure, which I now propose to give 

 somewhat more in detail, in the hope of throwing some additional 

 light on the processes with which they are apparently connected. 



If a careful section is made of the leaf of Brosera rotundifoUa, 

 there will be found a number of bodies which might at first sight 

 be easily mistaken for stomata, but which are of essentially difierent 

 structure. In Fig. 1, PL XXYL, one of these bodies is represented 

 at gl. They are, in their first origin, not superficial, but appear 

 to arise immediately beneath the cuticle chiefly, or perhaps exclu- 

 sively of the upper surface ; in one case I found one imbedded in 

 the tissue immediately beneath a " tentacle" or glandular filament. 

 They consist of two nearly hemispherical cells, filled with a yellowish- 

 brown apparently protoplasmic substance, and form together a nearly 

 spherical body, of which the longest diameter is about • 00075 (4/00) 

 inch. They are more nearly circular and somewhat smaller than 

 the stomata, one of which {st) is shown in the drawing. In each of 

 the hemispheres is a darker nucleus-like spot, and each is surrounded 

 by a thin-walled cell containing chlorophyll-grains, much smaller 

 than the ordinary cells of the mesophyll of the leaf, and which seems 

 subsequently to disappear. From these hemispherical bodies are 

 developed two papillae, successive stages of which are shown by 

 jpa in Figs, 2-5, with thin transparent walls, and containing 

 grains of chlorophyll. These papillae sometimes rise above the sur- 

 face of the leaf or of the filaments of the " tentacles." The hairs 

 or papillae which result from these glands have been described and 

 figured by Meyen,t Trecul,:!: and Nitschke,§ and are referred to in 

 Darwin's work, p. 8 ; but their origin from the glands does not 

 appear to have been observed, and they are described as being en- 

 tirely of an epidermal nature. In the gland drawn in Fig. 5, an 

 indication is apparent of a quadripartite division ; and there are 

 also a couple of minute processes {pr), one from each hemisphere, 

 which I have also observed in other instances sj)ringing either from 

 the glands themselves or the cellular papillae ; one such process is 

 again represented in Fig. 4. To the bodies now described I 

 gave, in the article already referred to,l| the provisional name of 

 " ganglia," which term however I propose now to replace by 

 " absorptive glands," in allusion to their supposed function, and in 

 order to distinguish them from the secretive " glands," as they are 

 termed by Darwin, which form the apices of the " tentacles." 



* I have since bad the pleasure of showing my preparations to Mr. Darwin 

 who tells me that these bodies have not hitherto engaged his attention. 

 t ' Die Secretions-Organe der Pflanzen,' 1837. 



X ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Botauique,' 4 series, vol. iii. p. 308. 

 S ' Botanische Zeitung,' 1861, p. 235. 

 j ' Popular Science Review,' 1S75, p. 358. 



B 2 



