98 LUNDY ISLAND. 



minor) was found partially covering the surface of the 

 pool with a mantle of deceitful verdure ; and one of 

 the numerous kinds of pond-weed (Potamogeton) was 

 floating in the brook, together with the water-crow- 

 foot (Ranunculus aquatilis), a plant remarkable for 

 the very diverse appearance assumed by its leaves 

 under difference circumstances. It commonly grows 

 in the midst of water ; such of its leaves as reach to 

 the surface, and are exposed to the air, are three-lobed 

 and very slightly notched ; while such as grow im- 

 mersed in the water are cut into narrow threads, 

 almost as fine as hair. 



The mossy bog, which felt to the foot as if we were 

 treading on a saturated sponge, yielded us two inter- 

 esting plants. The one was the asphodel, (Narihe- 

 cium ossifragum), a spike of small lily-like yellow 

 flowers springing from a creeping root. The other 

 was the sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) , one of the 

 few plants that form natural insect-traps. It was the 

 first time that I had ever seen it in a living state, and 

 I looked with much interest on its radiating crown of 

 rounded leaves, each set at the end of a flattened foot- 

 stalk, and covered with red hairs or bristles. On 

 plucking a leaf to examine it more closely, we perceive 

 that every one of these minute hairs is tipped with a 

 globule qf fluid, as clear as a dew-drop, but as clammy 

 and adhesive as glue, capable of retaining small flies 

 and other insects which incautiously alight upon the 

 leaves. This viscous fluid is exhaled by glands at 

 the extremities of the bristles, under the influence of 



