134 DROSEEA ROTUNDIFOLIA. Chap. VL 



areolar tissue, or the fibrous basis of bone. It is not 

 known liow long an animal would survive if fed on 

 fibrin alone, but Dr. Sanderson has no doubt longer 

 than on gelatine, and it would be hardly rash to pre- 

 dict, judging from the effects on Drosera, that albu- 

 men would be found more nutritious than fibrin. 

 Globulin likewise belongs to the Proteids, forming 

 another sub-group, and this substance, though con- 

 taininof some matter which excited Drosera rather 

 strongly, was hardly attacked by the secretion, and 

 was very little or very slowly attacked by gastric 

 juice. How far globulin would be nutritious to ani- 

 mals is not known. We thus see how differently the 

 above specified several digestible substances act on 

 Drosera ; and we may infer, as highly probable, that 

 they would in like manner be nutritious in very dif- 

 ferent degrees both to Drosera and to animals. • 



The glands of Drosera absorb matter from living 

 seeds, which are injured or killed by the secretion. 

 They likewise absorb matter from pollen, and from 

 fresh leaves ; and this is notoriously the case with 

 the stomachs of vegetable-feeding animals. Drosera 

 is i^roperly an insectivorous plant; but as pollen 

 cannot fail to be often blown on to the glands, as 

 will occasionally the seeds and leaves of surrounding 

 'plants, Drosera is, to a certain extent, a vegetable- 

 feeder. 



Finally, the experiments recorded in this chapter 

 show us that there is a remarkable accordance in the 

 power of digestion between the gastric juice of ani- 

 mals with its pepsin and hydrochloric acid and the 

 secretion of Drosera with its ferment and acid belong- 

 ing to the acetic series. We can, therefore, hardly 

 doubt that the ferment in both cases is closely similar, 



