256 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



scientific travels. The Indians were found to observe 

 these motions with a sort of superstitious reverence, 

 and attach to the plants supernatural powers. 



We said above that the motions of these plants 

 manifest themselves either in the normal state of the 

 plant, or in consequence of occasional and accidental 

 causes. The Desmodium is an example of the for- 

 mer ; an example of the latter is furnished by the 



DIONAJE MUSOIPULA Venus' s Fly-trap. 



This singular plant seems to have received from 

 nature faculties far superior to those of other plants. 

 It opens its pink lobes, the springs are set, and woe 

 betide the insect that approaches incautiously. In- 

 stantly one of its leaves folds back upon the fly, 

 which in vain tries to escape from the treacherous 

 beauty ; another has in the same way caught a small 

 worm, it holds it fast and will not let it go. When 

 we look upon these caprices of nature, we can hardly 

 help being tempted to believe that she has given to 

 these plants some powers analogous to those which we 

 admire in animals. Like them, this plant has action, 

 life, spontaneous motion. We find it possessed, in 

 fact, of all that indicates purpose and will. 



The first specimens of this plant were brought 

 from South Carolina to Europe by John Bartram, in 

 1788, for the plant is native of North America. It is 

 a pretty plant, bearing several elegant white flowers, 

 while the leaves spread out close to the ground and 

 terminate in two lobes joined to each other by a hinge, 

 and surrounded at their edges with prickles. These 



