ERRONEOUS DEDUCTION. 2O1 



favoring cross-fertilization, but of protecting 

 the stigma against self-fertilization. When this 

 is considered, the direction in which the insect 

 entered would appear much more important 

 than comparative ease in getting at the nectar 

 or proximity of the orifices to the stamens. 



One of the most remarkable cases of over- 

 sight in Darwin's work occurred in connection 

 with the Venus' Fly-trap. This plant is re- 

 stricted to a very narrowly limited locality in 

 North Carolina, and its organs are highly differ- 

 entiated for the purpose of catching insects. 

 Darwin could not reconcile the very limited 

 range of so highly specialized an insectivorous 

 plant with his general belief that the best 

 adapted plants and animals spread over the 

 earth and survive. In his discussion of Dioncea, 

 (Venus' Fly-trap), he said, " It is a strange fact 

 that Dion&a, which is one of the most beauti- 

 fully adapted plants in the vegetable kingdom, 

 should apparently be on the high road to ex- 

 tinction. This is all the more strange as the 

 organs of Dioncea are more highly differentiated 

 than those o f Drosera." l 



All the studi^ of forty years had borne out 

 the conviction that the adaptations of animals 

 and plants to their environment were the result 



1 Insectivorous Plants, p. 358. 



