VENUS'S FLY-TRAP. 37 



at their sides with a row of long spines, and have 

 the power of folding their two sides towards each 

 other, so as to inclose the insects which settle on 

 their surface. On each half of the blade of a leaf, 

 three thorns are placed, and when any one of them 

 is slightly touched, the action of the trap is com- 

 plete. So perfectly do the spines cross each other, 

 that the captured prey cannot possibly escape ; and, 

 indeed, the more it struggles, the greater is the 

 pressure it experiences. In the engraving, the struc- 

 ture and action of the leaves are clearly shown. The 

 victims thus made, appear to supply the plant with 

 needed and beneficial nutriment, probably nitrogen 

 from animal matter. When kept in hot-houses in 

 England, from which insects were excluded, it has 

 languished, but little pieces of meat placed on the 

 leaves have restored its vigour. And yet, these 

 leaves, like all the foliage of the vegetable kingdom, 

 so change the crude fluid the water, in which is 

 dissolved a small proportion of the substances of the 

 surrounding soil that it becomes nutritious sap, on 

 which the life and functions of the plant primarily 

 depend. Still, notwithstanding the analogy which 

 is presented by this curious plant to animal functions, 

 its action is not voluntary, like that of a sentient 

 being, and it must continue rooted in the earth. 



If now we consider the animal, we find it com- 

 posed of parts symmetrically arranged, and consti- 

 tuting a body possessed of certain definite members. 

 Fixed by no root to one spot, in which to live and 



