Chap. XV.] THEIR POWER OF ABSORPTION. 285 



of the longer hairs. After the specimen had been left for 1 hr. in 

 the solution, many of the smaller globules had changed their posi- 

 tions; and two or three vacuoles or small spheres (for I know not 

 which they were) of a rather darker tint appeared within some of 

 the larger globules. Little globules could now be seen in some of 

 the uppermost cells of the pedicels, and the protoplasmic lining 

 was slightly separated from the walls of the lower cells. After 2 

 hrs. 30 m. from the time of first immersion, the large globules 

 within the glands of the longer hairs were converted into masses 

 of darker brown granular matter. Hence from what we have seen 

 with Primula sinensis, there can be little doubt that these masses 

 originally consisted of living protoplasm. 



A drop of a weak infusion of raw meat was placed on a leaf, 

 and after 2 hrs. 30 m. many spheres could be seen within the 

 glands. These spheres, when looked at again after 30 m., had 

 slightly changed their positions and forms, and one had separated 

 into two; but the changes were not quite like those which the 

 protoplasm of Drosera undergoes. These hairs, moreover, had not 

 been examined before immersion, and there were similar spheres in 

 some glands which had not been touched by the infusion. 



Erica tretralix. A few long glandular hairs project from the 

 margins of the upper surfaces of the leaves. The pedicels are 

 formed of several rows of cells, and support rather large globular 

 heads, secreting viscid matter, by which minute insects are occa- 

 sionally though rarely, caught. Some leaves were left for 23 hrs. 

 in a weak infusion of raw meat and in water, and the hairs were 

 then compared, but they differed very little or not at all. In both 

 cases the contents of the cells seemed rather more granular than 

 they were before; but the granules did not exhibit any movement. 

 Other leaves were left for 23 hrs. in a solution of one part of car- 

 bonate of ammonia to 218 of water, and here again the granular 

 matter appeared to have increased in amount; but one such mass 

 retained exactly the same form as before after an interval of 5 hrs., 

 so that it could hardly have consisted of living protoplasm. These 

 glands seem to have very little or no power of absorption, certainly 

 much less than those of the foregoing plants. 



Mirabilis longiftora. The stems and both surfaces of the leaves 

 bare viscid hairs. Young plants, from 12 to 18 inches in height in 

 my greenhouse, caught so many minute Diptera, Colcoptera, and 

 larve, that they were quite du.sted with them. The hairs are 

 short, of unequal .lengths, formed of a single row of cells, sur- 

 mounted by an enlarged cell which secretes viscid matter. These 

 terminal cells or glands contain granules and often globules of 

 granular matter. Within a gland which had caught a small in- 

 sect, one such mass was observed to undergo incess;int changes 

 of fom, with the occasional appearance of vacuoles. Hut I do not 

 believe that this protoplasm had been generatetl by matter ab- 

 sorbed from the dead insect; for, on comparing several glands 

 which had and had not caught insects, not a shade of difference 

 could be perceived between them, and they all contained fine granu- 

 lar matter. A piece of leaf was immersed for 24 hrs. in a solution 



