26 Life and Immortality. 



with absorbent hairs, are so poorly developed. From what 

 has been stated it would seem that the roots but serve to 

 imbibe water, but there is no doubt that nutritious matters 

 would also be absorbed were they present in the soil. 



With the edges of its leaves curled so as to form a tempo- 

 rary stomach, and with the glands of its closely-inflected ten- 

 tacles pouring forth their truly acid secretion, which dissolves 

 animal matters that are subsequently absorbed, Drosera 

 may be said to feed like an animal. But, unlike an animal, 

 it drinks by means of its roots, and largely, too, for it would 

 not be able to supply its glands with the necessary viscid 

 fluid. The amount needed is by no means an inconsiderable 

 quantity, as two hundred and seventy drops may sometimes 

 be exposed during a whole day to a glaring sun. Such a 

 profuse exudation implies preparations for hosts of insect 

 visitors. In this Drosera has not miscalculated. Its bright 

 pink blossoms and brilliant, glistening dew lure vast numbers 

 of the smaller kinds, and the larger ones, too, to certain 

 death. But the wholesale destruction of life that goes on is 

 much in excess of what the plant requires for food. While 

 the smaller flies remain adherent to the leaves, affording 

 them the needed aliment, the larger insects, after death, fall 

 around the roots, where they decay and fertilize the soil with 

 nitrogen, which doubtless through the proper channels makes 

 its way into the body of the plant, thus helping to give it 

 tone and vigor. There are times when these plants work 

 better than at others, but whether this is caused by the elec- 

 trical condition of the atmosphere, or the amount of its 

 contained moisture, is a question which science has not 

 positively determined. 



Drosera longifolia folds it leaves entirely around its victim, 

 from the apex down to the petiole after the manner of its 

 vernation, but in Drosera rotundifolia, whose marginal 

 tentacles are longer, the tentacles simply curve around the 

 object, the glands touching the substance, like so many 

 mouths receiving nourishment. Experimented upon with 



