130 GLASS-HOUSES 



insect on every side and hold it fast. Thus does the Sundew 

 obtain its nitrogenous food. 



The leaves of Venus' Fly-Trap, Dionaea musdpula of 

 N. America, are even more wonderful. They are modified 

 to form a spring gin, the spine-fringed jaws of which snap 

 together over any luckless fly or piece of meat which may 

 touch the two or three sensory hairs situated in the centre 

 of each of the jaws. 



The Sarracenias of N. America have tubular leaves in 

 which water lodges, and in which many insects meet with a 

 watery grave. 



Sarracenia vittata, maculata and williamsii were added to 

 the collection in 1894. 



In 19 r i the house contained young plants of the 

 Asclepiadeae. Ceropegia barklyi^ debilis, gardnerii, perforata> 

 radicans, sandersoni^ stapeliaeformis, and many seedlings of the 

 Sensitive Plant, Mimosa pudica, are also raised to replace 

 worn and torn specimens in the other houses, which may have 

 been roughly fingered by visitors. 



THE OLD No. 12 GREEN-HOUSE 



Erected by Professor Daubeny in 1866 for plants requiring 

 protection in winter, this house is now one of the oldest 

 in the Garden. Part of the roof was raised in 1879 to ac- 

 commodate the "head" of the Old Man Cactus, a centenarian 

 which unfortunately died shortly afterwards, in transplanting 

 to the new house. 



On either side of the entrance is a specimen of the Hottentot's 

 Bread or Elephant's Foot, Testudinaria elephantipes, from 

 S. Africa, a very curious member of the family of the Yams, 

 The rounded rootstock which rises above the ground, is 

 covered with a hard corky bark cracked in various directions, 

 so as to bear a fancied resemblance to its ungainly namesake. 

 It has been known to grow over 7 ft. in height and to weigh 



