H2 NOTES. 



incapable of using its legs ; it flew away readily. In one 

 instance I have found the dried remains of a small insect 

 embedded amidst the hairs, but cannot say whether its 

 juices were in any way absorbed by the plant. If such 

 assimilation takes place, what is its purpose ? Can this 

 phenomenon of fly-catching be accidental, or is some 

 nice purpose concealed in it ? I merely state the facts as 

 I have observed them ; perhaps others can supply further 

 information." 



NOTE II T. 



ON THE SOLANUM TRIBE. 



It is very curious to compare the two following passages 

 of two great masters of style Ruskin and Michelet 

 both writing of the tribe to which belongs the Tomato. 

 Ruskin, in The Queen of the Air, p. 91, says : 



" Next, in the Potato, we have the scarcely innocent 

 underground stem of one of a tribe set aside for evil, 

 having the deadly nightshade for its queen, and including 

 the henbane, the witch's mandrake, and the worst natural 

 curse of modern civilisation tobacco. And the strange 

 thing about this tribe is, that though thus set aside for 

 evil, they are not a group distinctly separate from those 

 that are happier in function. There is nothing in other 

 tribes of plants like the form of the bean blossom ; but 

 there is another family with forms and structure closely 

 connected with this venomous one. Examine the purpl 2 

 and yellow bloom of the common hedge Nightshade; 

 you will find it constructed exactly like some of the 



