60 PREDA TOR Y PLANTS. [CHAP. 



highly irritable, short stiff hairs. The surface of the 

 leaf is also covered with a number of small purple 

 glands. When touched by an insect, the irritable 

 bristles communicate the irritation to the lobes of 

 the leaf, which suddenly close together, imprisoning 

 the luckless insect. The purple glands, also excited, 

 now pour out an acid fluid, which has the power of 

 digesting the body of the insect, which is then absorbed 

 by the same glands. The leaf remains closed for a 

 period of from nine to twenty-four days, and on re- 



FIG. 72. 



opening, is found to have lost its sensitiveness, which, 

 however, soon returns. It is so sensitive that should 

 a particle of earth, or other non-nitrogenous sub- 

 stance, be placed upon the leaf, it immediately closes 

 up, but again opens in perhaps twenty-four hours, 

 and is at once sensitive. The process which goes 

 on after the capture of an insect is very similar to that 

 of digestion in animals. The two lobes of the leaf 

 form a closed stomach, in which the insect is con- 

 tained, and from the inner walls of which the digestive 



