The Sundews. 5 1 



not thrown overboard by their Latin companions. All 

 true botanists, so far from rejecting or despising English 

 names, love them and continually use them, substituting 

 the Latin synonyms only when scientific accuracy requires. 

 Let us now proceed to the sundews, first describing 

 the way to their habitation. All the mosses about 

 Manchester possess these curious plants, but Carrington 

 Moss is the most readily accessible, lying only a little 

 distance south-west of Sale. From the station we go for 

 about a mile in the direction of Ashton-upon-Mersey, 

 then turn up one of the lanes upon the left, and look out 

 for a grove of dark fir-trees, which, being close upon the 

 borders of the moss, is an excellent guide. The edge of 

 the moss is being drained and brought under cultivation ; 

 all this part, along with the ditches, must be crossed, and 

 the higher, undisturbed portion ascended, and as soon 

 as we are up here we find the objects of our search. 

 Among the heather are numberless little marshes, filled 

 with pea-green Sphagnum, and containing often a 

 score or two of the sundews, some of them with round 

 leaves, about a third of an inch across, and growing 

 in flat rosettes of half-a-dozen; others, with long and 

 slender leaves that grow erect. Every leaf is set round 

 with bright red hairs, which spread from it like eyelashes, 

 while similar but shorter hairs cover the surface. When 

 the plant is full-grown and healthy, these hairs exude 

 from their points little drops of sticky and limpid fluid, 

 which, glittering like the diamonds of Aurora, show 

 the reason of the poetical English name, sundew. 



