326 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



out a more copious effusion and set the fila- 

 ments in motion. The filaments to which 

 the insects adheres begin to bend inward, 

 much as we bend a finger into the palm of 

 the hand. When this has bent down so that 

 the prey is brought to the surface of the leaf, 

 the filaments nearest to it will bend in the 

 same manner, and when these touch the sur- 

 face others adjoining follow, and this sort 

 of movement by detachments is kept up 

 until all the filaments are bent down. 



Fig. 1883 shows a leaf with half of the 

 filaments bent over the captive, and one 

 where they are all inflexed towards the mid- 

 dle. These are both magnified, and illus- 

 trate the movement when the insect has been 

 captured by one of the filaments on the 

 margin of a leaf of the round leaved species, 

 by which it is necessarily brought into the 

 centre. It must often occur that the cap- 

 ture is made by a filament other than one on 

 the margin, but, whatever the position, the 

 incurving filaments never fail of their aim. 

 If two are captured at the same time the 

 filaments divide into two groups. Indeed 

 all these movements vary according to the 

 needs of the movement, so that the purpose 

 to immerse the prey in an abundance of 

 digesting fluid never fails of accomplishment. 

 The filaments are also endowed with dis- 

 crimination, for if grains of sand or other 

 non-nitrogenous bodies come in contact with 

 the glands, though secretion is increased, no 

 pepsin is discharged and no bending takes 

 place. As soon as the prey has been digested 

 the filaments resume their former position, 

 the time occupied in absorbing the nutrient 

 portions varying with the size of the captive. 

 It is surprising to find that they capture so 

 many and so large insects, not midges only, 

 but ants, flies, small butterflies, dragon flies, 

 these larger being secured by the co-opera- 

 tion of two or more leaves. The remains of 

 thirteen different insects have been found 

 upon a single leaf. 



Fig. 1883. 



A brief mention of the several Canadian 

 species of Sundew will close this paper. 



Drosera rotundifolia. Round-leaved Sun- 

 dew, grows in bogs and marshes from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. See Fig. 1882, natural 

 size. D. intermedia^ Spatulate Sundew, in 

 bogs and margins of lakes throughout 

 Quebec and northern Ontario to Manitoba. 

 Both of these are abundant in mossy beds 

 bordering Holland River west of Newmarket. 



D. longifolia, Oblong-leaved Sundew, in 

 boggy ground along the shores of Lake 

 Huron, Bruce peninsula, Manitoba and 

 British Columbia (Macoun). 



D. linearis. Slender-leaved Sundew, in 

 marshes of Lake Simcoe, Chicken Bay, Mc- 

 Leod's Harbor and Cockburn Island, Lake 

 Huron to Manitoba and Rocky Mountains. 



D. W. Beadle. 



Toronto, Ont. 



