THE ENEMIES OF INSECTS 249 



capture the edges of the leaf curl slowly inwards and a 

 peptic secretion is poured forth, the nitrogenous sub- 

 stance of the victim being thus slowly dissolved and 

 absorbed by the plant. Similar digestive arrangements 

 exist in the sundews (Droscra), but in these instances the 

 contrivances for trapping the prey are much more perfect. 

 The leaves are studded with numerous red hairs or ten- 

 tacles, each terminating in a bright drop of sticky fluid. 

 This glistening array is very attractive to insects. When 

 one settles upon a leaf it is held fast. The red hairs bend 

 slowly over, carrying the victim to the centre of the leaf, 

 where it is drenched with digestive ferment. An Ameri- 

 can observer, Mrs. Mary Treat, writing of the United 

 States sundew, says : " I had supposed it caught only small 

 insects, but ... I was mistaken ; great Asilus flies were 

 held firm prisoners; innumerable moths and butterflies, 

 many of them two inches across, were alike held captive 

 until they died — the bright flowers and brilliant glistening 

 dew luring them on to sure death. But w r hat is the use 

 of this wholesale destruction of insect life ? Can the 

 plants use them ? Upon examination, I find that after 

 the death of the larger insects they fall around the roots 

 of the plants and so fertilise them, but the smaller flies 

 remain sticking to the leaves." Mrs. Treat also discovered 

 that a sundew leaf will bend over and seize an insect 

 pinioned half-an-inch away — a fact which the present 

 writer has himself verified by experiment. 



The most remarkable of all insectivorous plants is the 

 Venus's fly-trap (Dioncea muscipula) of North America. 

 Darwin referred to it as " one of the most wonderful 

 plants in the world." . Each leaf consists of two parts, 

 namely, a flat stalk with leafy expansions on each side, 

 and a bilobed blade bordered with curved spines. On 

 each lobe there are three delicate, almost invisible bristles. 



