pe THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE * — cmap. 
INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS 
In the cases above mentioned the relation 
between flowers and insects is one of mutual 
advantage. But this is by no means an in- 
variable rule. Many insects, as we all know, 
live on plants, but it came upon botanists as a 
surprise when our countryman Ellis first dis- 
covered that some plants catch and devour in- 
sects. This he observed in a North American 
plant Dionza, the leaves of which are formed 
something like a rat-trap, with a hinge in the 
middle, and a formidable row of spines round 
the edge. On the surface are a few very sen- 
sitive hairs, and the moment any small insect 
alights on the leaf ‘and touches one of these 
hairs the two halves of the leaf close up 
quickly and catch it. The surface then throws 
out a glutinous secretion, by means of which 
the leaf sucks up the nourishment contained 
in the insect. 
Our common Sun-dews (Drosera) are also 
insectivorous, the prey being in their case 
