iv.] PREDATORY PLANTS. 61 



fluid is poured out. When the process of digestion 

 is complete the glands of this artificial stomach 

 change their functions, and instead of secreting 

 pepsin, absorb chyle. The cells of the filaments are 

 now found to exhibit a change in their protoplasmic 

 contents ; the protoplasm becomes aggregated into 

 masses of various shapes. 



But we have no need to travel to the marshy lands 

 of North Carolina for specimens of such interesting 

 plants. We have growing in our own bogs at home 

 three allied species of insectivorous plants the Sun- 

 dews. For the last twenty years Mr. Darwin has 

 been carefully studying the habits of our native Sun- 

 dews, and other insectivorous plants, and as the result 

 has published a most interesting and valuable volume 

 upon the subject. More than half of this book is 

 devoted to the consideration of the common Round- 

 leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia\ a species which 

 may be obtained in tolerable plenty from the bogs 

 in the neighbourhood of London. It is an exceed- 

 ingly pretty little plant, and very prominent among 

 the bright-green tufts of Sphagnum, where it grows. 

 The leaves are developed from the root, and lie flat, 

 forming a little rosette. They unfold like the fronds 

 of a Fern, being in the early stage rolled up. From 

 the centre of this rosette the flower-stalks rise ; the 

 stalk is wiry, leafless, and the flowers white and in- 

 conspicuous. The leaves somewhat resemble a spoon, 

 being narrow at the base, gradually enlarging until 

 about the centre, from whence it suddenly assumes 

 a rotund, slightly concave form. The surface is 

 thickly set with long, fine, red filaments, each tipped 



