82 ANOMALIES* PART I. 



SECTION VIII. 



Anomalies. 



THERE are several other appendages proper to 

 conservative organs which are so totally different 

 from all the foregoing, that they cannot be classed 

 with any of them ; and so very circumscribed in 

 their occurrence, that they do not yet seem to have 

 been designated by any peculiar appellation. But 

 as they are still well worthy of our notice from the 

 very singularity they exhibit, as well as from their 

 circumscribed occurrence, I shall here present them 

 in one view, under the head of anomalies. 



As occur- The first anomaly I shall now mention as affect- 

 ring in . 

 Dionsea ing the conservative appendages, occurs in Dwnaa 



k uscipu- jif usc jp u i a or Venus's Fly-trap, being a flat and 

 somewhat circular process issuing from the apex of 

 the leaf, which is radical and somewhat battledore- 

 shaped, and consisting of a midrib which is a pro- 

 longation of the midrib of the leaf, and of two 

 elliptical lobes strongly toothed at the margin, giving 

 it a slight resemblance to a steel trap with the wings 

 expanded. This singular appendage, from which 

 the specific name of the plant is derived, is so 

 highly irritable that, if it is but touched with the point 

 of any fine or sharp instrument, or if an insect but 

 alights upon it, the lobes immediately collapse, as if 

 eager to seize their prey and detain the insect cap- 



