A LONG ISLAND MEADOW 



is soon lifeless. A digestive fluid is now exuded 

 from the hairs, and the flesh and blood are ab- 

 sorbed by the plant, which leaves undigested only 

 the bony portions that form the particles left upon 

 the surface of the leaf. Two days are said to be 

 sufficient for the total absorption of the digestible 

 parts of the body of a very small insect. After this 

 absorption is accomplished, the leaf and the hairs 

 slowly recover their former position. Within a 

 day or two, fresh drops of the deceptive fluid are 

 exuded, and the murderous work begins anew. 

 One leaf may capture many prisoners. Ants, flies, 

 beetles, and even butterflies are numbered among 

 the victims of this little plant. 



Of the three species of sundew native to this 

 part of the country, I find two here, the round- Two native 

 leaved and the oblong-leaved, the latter notice- smdews 

 able from its habit of raising itself upon its root, 

 so as not to be submerged when growing in the 

 water. 



Springing directly out of the black pools which 

 the sundews border is a slender, usually leafless 

 stem, bearing a yellow flower with a projecting, 

 helmet-shaped lip. In the water at the base of the 

 stem float little, awl-shaped leaves, fastened to 

 which are a number of tiny sacs or bladders. This 

 is the bladderwort, a plant which would naturally 

 find the neighborhood of the sundew congenial, 



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