222 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
out the cell. This process of aggregation begins at the summit 
and gradually spreads down the tentacle, but when digestion has 
completed the re-dissolving commences and proceeds upwards. 
Under a high power of the microscope a cell circulation can be 
distinctly seen. Mr. Darwin ends up his description of this process 
by saying, ‘One of these cells, with the ever changing central 
masses, and with the layer of protoplasm floating round the walls, 
presents a wonderful scene of vital activity.’ If any small object 
is placed on the extremity of one of the glands, it sticks to it, and 
soon, one by one, all the tentacles on the surface of the leaf will 
bend over, so as to quite envelope the substance. Among these 
specimens are many instances of this, upon some of which I have 
placed small flies or pieces of meat. The process is slow, for 
sometimes it takes more than four or five hours before the substance 
is completely covered in. Almost directly, however, the secretion 
is much increased in quantity, and not only in quantity, but also in 
quality, for it becomes much more acid, and this no doubt plays 
the greatest part in the digestion of the animal substances upon 
which it is poured. Pieces of meat placed in this fluid are 
apparently preserved by it, and remain quite fresh, for a piece put 
at the same time on the leaf of any other plant soon decomposes. 
Insects falling upon the leaves soon die, no doubt from the sticky 
fluid filling up the breathing pores and thus suffocating them. The 
roots of the Lindew are very long and slender, and seem only 
formed for fixing the plant to the surface of the soil, and also for 
sucking up the large quantity of water which is necessary to supply 
the secreting apparatus. Mr. Darwin says again in his work on 
‘Insectivorous Plants,’ ‘A plant of Lindew with the edges of its 
leaves curled inwards, so as to form a temporary stomach with the 
glands of the closely inflected tentacles pouring forth their acid 
secretion, which dissolves animal matter afterwards to be absorbed, 
may be said to feed like an animal.’ It would seem that having 
a true digestive apparatus like ourselves, it has also the equivalents 
of a nervous system, for by no other method could sensation be 
transmitted from one hair to another ; it has been proved that so 
sensitive are these hairs, that a piece of human hair only 1-120th 
part of an inch long, and weighing about one millionth part of a 
grain, laid upon one of them, caused it to bend over after a time, 
and so also will even the weight of a gnat’s foot. The plant also 
seems to have reasoning powers, for if a drop of water is placed on 
a gland, it takes no notice of it, whilst a drop of milk or beef tea 
will cause instant inflection. Like the gastric juice of animals, the 
secretion from the glands contains an acid and also a ferment, and 
it is from this fact, and from the power they have of actually 
digesting animal substances, that the plants have been termed car- 
nivorous or insectivorous. During the process of pouring out the 
