66 



LECTUEES ON BIOLOGY 



More striking still are the movements of the Venus's Fly- 

 trap (Dioncea muscipula), a native of North America, where it 

 occurs on moorlands. ' It has a circle of more or less prostrate 

 leaves round the base of the stalk which rises 4 to 6 in. from 

 the ground. The leaves, about 4 in. in length, consist of 



FIG. 19. VENUS'S FLY-TRAP (Dioncea muscipula}. 



Above, two leaves of Dion sea, one prepared for a capture, the other with a 

 captured insect. 



a spatulate stalk which is constricted to the mid-rib at its 

 junction with the broad blade. The halves of the blade are 

 movable on one another along the mid-rib, and close together, 

 as this book would do if fitted with an automatic closing spring. 

 Bound each margin are twelve to twenty long teeth which inter- 



