LYTIOX HOltTICOLE. 



OAJEtNTVGEtOTJ& PLANTS. 



i of the trans- 

 i himself the 



ness. resides only in these hair-like processes, as the leaf 

 may be touched or pressed in any other part without sens- 

 ible effects. 



In 1868 an American botanist, Mr. Clanby, while staying 

 in the Dionaea district, studied the habits of the plant pretty 

 carefully. His first idea was that the leaf had the power 

 of dissolving animal matter, which was then allowed to flow 

 along the trough-like petiole to the root, thus furnishing 

 the plant with highly nitrogenous food. By feeding the leaves 

 with beef he found , however, that it was completely dissolved 

 and absorbed: the leaf opening again with a dry surface 

 and ready for another meal, though no longer as active' 

 He found that cheese disagreed horribly with the leaves , 

 turning them black, and finally killing them. He also de- 

 scribes the futile attempts of the Curculio to escape. 



From experiments undertaken by Dr. Sanderson at the 

 instigation of Mr. Darwin it was proved to demonstration 

 I that when a leaf of Dionaea contracts , the effects produced 

 I are precisely similar to those which occur when muscle 

 contracts, thus exhibiting another property believed to be 

 peculiar to the animal kingdom. 



The Sun-dews possess similar properties although in a 

 less degree. In 1780, Dr. Whateley, an English surgeon, 

 observed that their leaves closed up and imprisoned insects. 

 Roth had also observed the same phenomenon, though he 

 did not publish it till later. An ant placed by him on the 

 leaf of D. rotundifolia was seized by the contract in- baiix, 

 and drowned in the glutinous fluid secreted by the glands 

 in the space of fifteen minutes. 



These facts were for a long time disputed and derided, 

 but renewed investigations within the last fifteen years by 

 Nitschke, Miss Treat, Darwin, Burnett and others have 

 served to verify them. It has even been observed that the 

 leaves would retain insects, but reopened if they were 

 deceived by substituting some mineral substance for the 

 organic. 



The Sarracenias or. Pitcher-plants of North America exhi- 

 bit the same faculties. The first fact observed about their 

 pitchers was that when they grew they contained water. 



In 1829 Burnett wrote a paper containing a good many 

 original ideas, in which he very strongly insisted on the 

 existence of a true digestive process in the case of Sarracenia 

 analogous to that which takes place in the stomach of an 

 animal. There are two very different types of pitcher in 

 Sarracenia, and probably three. These may be primarily 

 classified into those with the mouth open and the lid erect, 



:iiul which , 





h'<s Mbundam-e; and tin., 

 into which the rain ran 

 observations of Drs. M c 



the : 



with the mouth closed by the lid 

 irdly, if at all, find ingress. The 

 'ide and Mollichamp have enlight- 

 ened ootanists considerably on the physiology of Sarracenia 

 varwlans, indicating the presence of honey-secreting glands 

 that attract the insects which are detained in the pitcher by 

 deflexed hairs, and the more they struggle to free themselves, 

 the more hopelessly they become entangled. The water con- 

 tained in the pitcher is also noxious to insects, which has 

 been proved by immersing then in pure water and this fluid. 

 The tissues of the internal surfaces of the pitchers are sin- 



