2-1:0 DION^A MUSCIPULA. [Chap. XIII. 



remains quite dry. Nor does it make any difference if the 

 lobes close over such objects. For instance, some little balls 

 of blotting-paper were placed on a leaf, and a filament was 

 touched; and when after 24 hrs. the lobes began to re-open, 

 the balls were removed by the aid of thin pincers, and were 

 found pKjrfectly dry. On the other hand, if a bit of damp 

 meat or a crushed fly is placed on the surface of an expanded 

 leaf, the glands after a time secrete freely. In one such 

 case there was a little secretion directly beneath the meat in 

 4 hrs.; and after an additional 3 hrs. there was a consider- 

 able quantity both under and close round it. In another 

 case, after 3 hrs. 40 m., the bit of meat was quite wet. But 

 none of the glands secreted, excepting those which actually 

 touched the meat or the secretion containing dissolved ani- 

 mal matter. 



If, however, the lobes are made to close over a bit of meat 

 or an insect, the result is different, for the glands over the 

 whole surface of the leaf now secrete copiously. As in this 

 case the glands on both sides are pressed, against the meat or 

 insect, the secretion from the first is twice as great as when 

 a bit of meat is laid on the surface of one lobe; and as the 

 two lobes come into almost close contact, the secretion, con- 

 taining dissolved animal matter, spreads by capillary at- 

 traction, causing fresh glands on both sides to begin se- 

 creting in a continually widening circle. The secretion is 

 almost colourless, slightly mucilaginous, and, judging by the 

 manner in which it coloured litmus paper, more strongly 

 acid than that of Drosera. It is so copious that on one 

 occasion, when a leaf was cut open, on which a small cube 

 of albumen had been' placed 45 hrs. before, drops rolled off 

 the leaf. On another occasion, in which a leaf with an 

 enclosed bit of roast meat spontaneously opened after eight 

 days, there was so much secretion in the furrow over the 

 midrib that it trickled down. A large crushed fly (Tipula) 

 was placed on a leaf from which a small portion at the base 

 of one lobe had previously been cut away, so that an open- 

 ing wf.: left; and through this, the secretion continued to 

 run down the footstalk during nine days, that is, for as 

 long a time as it was observed. By forcing up one of the 

 lobes, I was able to see some distance between them, and all 

 the glands within sight were secreting freely. 



