ACCORDING TO SEASON 



only in the sunlight, displaying a small, white, 

 five-petalled blossom. 



The black bog-land is fairly carpeted with this 

 Leaves of plant, which gives a jewelled look to the under- 

 world of the meadow. It is but slightly fastened 

 in the moist earth, and it is worth our while to 

 uproot it and make a study of its delicately 

 spangled leaves. 



These are nearly round, narrowing somewhat 

 abruptly into the flat stems. Each leaf bears a 

 multitude of small red hairs, as many at times as 

 two hundred to a leaf. These hairs are tipped 

 with what seem to be tiny dew-drops, but which 

 are in reality particles of a sticky fluid exuded by 

 the hairs for the purpose of capturing insects. 



The young leaves are rolled in the bud, or 

 partially unrolled after the fashion of young fern 

 fronds. Others are fully open, each hair spar- 

 kling with its jewelled tip. Still others look 

 withered, and black particles seem to be held in 

 the depression of the leaf-blade. 



One must be familiar with the habits of the 

 sundew to know that these black particles are the 

 remains of the bodies of insects which have been 

 attracted to the leaf by the apparent presence of 

 Capture of drops of nectar. In these drops their legs are first 

 caught; then the red hairs bend slowly over and 

 imprison still more helplessly the little body, which 



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