2T8 RORIDULA. [Chap. XV. 



ably connected with the fact that insects do not commonly 

 adhere to the glands with which they first come into con- 

 tact, though this does sometimes occur; and that it is chiefly 

 the secretion from the sessile glands which dissolves animal 

 matter out of their bodies. 



RORIDULA. 



Roridula dentata. This plant, a native of the western 

 parts of the Cape of Good Hope, was sent to me in a dried 

 state from Kew. It has an almost woody stem and branches, 

 and apparently grows to a height of some feet. The leaves 

 are linear, with their summits much attenuated. Their 

 upper and lower surfaces are concave, with a ridge in the 

 middle, and both are covered with tentacles, which differ 

 greatly in length; some being very long, especially those 

 on the tips of the leaves, and some very short. The glands 

 also differ much in size and are somewhat elongated. They 

 are supported on multicellular pedicels. 



This plant, therefore, agrees in several respects with 

 Drosophyllum, but differs in the following points. I could 

 detect no sessile glands; nor would these have been of any 

 use, as the upper surface of the leaves is thickly clothed with 

 pointed, unicellular hairs directed upwards. The pedicels 

 of the tentacles do not include spiral vessels; nor are there 

 any spiral cells within the glands. The leaves often arise in 

 tufts and are pinnatifid, the divisions projecting at right 

 angles to the main linear blade. These lateral divisions are 

 often very short and bear only a single terminal tentacle, 

 with one or two short ones on the sides. No distinct line of 

 demarcation can be drawn between the pedicels of the long 

 terminal tentacles and the much attenuated summits of the 

 leaves. We may, indeed, arbitrarily fix on the point to 

 which the spiral vessels proceeding from the blade extend; 

 but there is no other distinction. 



It was evident from the many particles of dirt sticking 

 to the glands that they secrete much viscid matter. A large 

 number of insects of many kinds also adhered to the leaves. 

 I could nowhere discover any signs of the tentacles having 

 been inflected over the captured insects; and this probably 

 would have been seen even in the dried specimens, had they 



