98 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



alights on the open leaf, it seems to touch a sort of spring, and 

 the two sides of the leaf suddenly collapse and hold the insect 

 in their grasp. The strange point about it is, that not only is 

 the insect caught, but is held until it is quite digested, the 

 process being almost exactly the same as if it had been placed in 

 the stomach of some insect-eating animal. 



So carnivorous, indeed, is the Dionea, that plants have been 

 fed with chopped meat laid on the leaves, and have thriven 

 wonderfully. Experiments have been tried with other sub- 

 stances, but the Dionea would have nothing to do with them. 

 The natural irritability of the leaves caused them to contract, 

 but they soon opened and rejected the spurious food. 



On the left is the Cephalotus. This plant, instead of 

 catching the insect by the folding of the leaf, secures it by 

 means of a sort of trap-door at the upper end. The insect is 

 attracted by the moisture in the cup, and, as soon as it enters, 

 the trap-door shuts upon it, and confines it until it is digested, 

 when the door opens in readiness to admit more prey. 



BIRDLIME. 



BY a natural transition we pass to those traps which secure 

 their prey by means of adhesive substances. 



With us, the material called "birdlime" is usually em- 

 ployed. This is obtained from the bark of the holly, and is of 

 the most singular tenacity. An inexperienced person who 

 touches birdlime is sure to repent it. The horrid stuff clings 

 to the fingers, and the more attempts are made to clear them, the 

 more points of attachment are formed. The novice ought to 

 have dipped his hands in water before he touched the birdlime, 

 and then he might have manipulated it with impunity. 



The most familiar mode of using the birdlime is by " pegging " 

 for chaffinches. 



In the spring, when the male birds are aii in anxious rivalry 

 to find mutes, or, having found them, to defend them, the 

 " peggers " go into the fields armed with a pot of birdlime 

 and a stuffed chaffinch set on a peg of wood. At one end of this 

 peg is a sharp iron spike. They also have a "call-bird," 

 i.e. a chaffinch which has been trained to sing at a given 

 signal. 



