28 llO^V PI-ANTS USE ANIMALS. 



The number of insects allured to destruction by the untold 

 millions of these living traps distributed over the globe is per- 

 fectly inconceivable. And when wereujember that one hundred 

 different species of this single genus of plants are continually 

 lying in wait for the unwary insect, the results may well excite 

 our astonishment.* 



6. The only remaining genus of this family (Droseraceae) is 

 Drosophyllum, represented by the single species D. Lusitanicum, 

 a native of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. In the neighborhood 

 of Oporto, where it abounds, it l)ears the name of "'Fly-catcher", 

 and is hung up in dwellings to rid them of flies. The roots are 

 very small, as in the case of Drosera, showing that it is not 

 dependent upon food derived from the soil.' The leaves are long 

 and linear, gradually tapering to the apex. "The upper surface 

 is concave, the lower convex, with a narrow channel down the 

 middle. Both surfaces, with the exception of the channel, are 

 covered with long, irregular rows of glands, supported on pedicels 

 of diffeient lengths." The glands vary much in size and are 

 conspicuous by their bright pink or purple color. Unlike those 

 of Drosera they are incapable of nun-ement, but res^emble them 

 by producing large drops of a viscid secretion in which insects 

 become entangled. The drops adhere to the wings, feet, or 

 body of the unfortunat<» visitor, and are drawn from the gland. 

 It then crawls onwards and other drops adhere to it, till at 

 length it is overwhelmed by the accumulating mass and sinks 

 down under the burden to rise no ir)ore. The work of digestion 

 and absorption begins immediately, and soon nothing remains 

 but the wings and indigestible integuments of the body.f 



Order IV. — The plant Cephalotus foilicularis is regarded by 

 some botanists as the sole representative of the family Cephalo- 

 taceae, but the majority describe it as an abnormal member of 

 the Saxifragaceae. It is a perennial plant growing in wet 

 marshes, and, so far as known, is confined in its distribution to 



* According to recent experiments it is deemed prolmble tbat the insect-digesting 

 ferment is .secreted by bacteria which lie upon the plant. — Minnesota Bot. Studied, 

 Vol. 1, p. 942. 



+Darwin, Insectivorous Insects, p. .'532. 



